Gator stolen from the zoo as an egg returns fully grown 20 years later

An 8 foot alligator that was allegedly stolen from a Texas zoo as an egg or hatchling has been returned to the facility — after living for more than 20 years in a woman’s backyard. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently relocated the alligator, named Tewa, after finding that it had been living in a residential backyard for more than two decades without proper permits. Videos shared by Texas Game Wardens show the approximately 8-foot alligator being carried into the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo in New Braunfels. In a follow-up from the zoo, a staffer explained that the woman who kept the alligator is believed to have been a volunteer at the zoo decades before. She 'apparently stole this alligator, either the egg or the hatchling alligator at the time, put it in their pocket and took off.'