Rare white alligator in legal limbo

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Rare white alligator in legal limbo; authorities say capture was against the law

By: Associated Press Wire Reports

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- A rare white alligator is being housed at Riverbanks Zoo, but the reptile is seen only by its keepers because it's evidence in a legal case against the brothers who captured it.

Ted Clamp, 59, and his brother Heyward, 62, argue that they took the gator in to protect it, but they are charged with taking and possessing an American alligator, a crime under a state law designed to protect an endangered species. The brothers, who operate a private zoo for snakes, alligators and related creatures, could receive to up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine if convicted.

The blue-eyed alligator is leucistic, meaning it has no pigmentation, a condition that appears among reptiles, mammals and birds and makes them more visible to predators.

Leucistic gators "probably occur with some frequency in the wild, but nobody knows what frequency," said Dan Maloney, curator of animals at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. That zoo has 10 male leucistic gators that were found eight years ago.

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