Predator Pets (2018) Season 1 Episode 10

  • last month
Predator Pets (2018) Season 1 Episode 10

The daughter of a Belgian diplomat and avid naturalist, Martine Colette grew up traveling the world. In this episode, we talk to Martine about how she went from Hollywood socialite to founding her own wildlife sanctuary. We learn about Bob Ingersoll, a Primatologist who forged very special bonds with chimpanzees. We also hear the remarkable story of Jaxson the alligator.

#documentary

Category

🐳
Animals
Transcript
00:00Humans have had a close relationship with animals for thousands of years.
00:26Scientists agree the domestic dog has been a trusted pet for around 15,000 years, and
00:31cats became part of the household from 10,000 years ago.
00:35And now it's estimated there are at least 600 million pet cats in the world.
00:41Exotic pets have also been kept for thousands of years.
00:46It's well documented that the Egyptians kept baboons as pets, and exotic animals kept in
00:51the home feature in many ancient texts.
00:55In modern times, the keeping of exotic pets has increased.
00:59A staggering statistic is that there are more tigers in the U.S. alone than there are in
01:04the wild.
01:09Animal owners truly believe they are playing a role in preserving the numbers of exotic
01:13animals.
01:14But on the other side of the debate, there are those who believe it is a cruel practice
01:19to keep any animals in captivity.
01:22This series explores the issues from both sides, from those who know the dangers, but
01:30see the benefits, to others who condemn the keeping of exotic pets.
01:35Their stories follow.
01:42My father was very much of a naturalist.
01:46I traveled extensively with him.
01:48My preference of a boat is to be in the middle of nowhere.
01:53I like the outdoors, I like animals, I like to live amongst them.
02:00Martine Collette grew up surrounded by wild and exotic animals.
02:04As a child, she spent time on safaris in catching camps that trapped animals for zoos around
02:10the world.
02:11As an adult, she decided that helping animals would be her life's calling.
02:15In the 1960s, Martine was a successful Hollywood costume designer.
02:20By 1976, she had 50 animals and had purchased 160 acres in the Angeles National Forest,
02:28creating the Wildlife Way Station.
02:31I was probably the first sanctuary of this type created in the United States.
02:37However, my start was in Hollywood.
02:42It was fashionable to have exotic animals as pets.
02:46And my husband was in the motion picture industry, and so I got to meet a lot of the people who
02:52had exotic animals.
02:55Pretty soon, generally sooner more than later, they had issues with having those animals.
03:01And they would call the zoo and they would say to the zoo, I would like to donate my
03:05ocelot, my monkey, my leopard, my whatever.
03:11And the zoo will say, well, no, thank you very much.
03:14We have all the ocelot, leopards, monkeys that we could use, and thank you very much.
03:21So what do you do then?
03:23And then the Hollywood phone lines began to ring.
03:29And then somebody will say, well, didn't so-and-so marry some gal that came from Africa?
03:36And that made me an expert in every field, right off the bat.
03:41And I took my first animals in the early 60s, and they have not stopped coming into the
03:482018s.
03:54Since it opened, the Wildlife Way Station has rescued, rehabilitated, and given permanent
03:59sanctuary to over 76,000 wild and exotic animals.
04:04Yet Martine still recalls the sanctuary's first acquisition.
04:08Yes, it was a mountain lion.
04:11It was on exhibit at a show in this very small cage.
04:17I felt sorry for it, and I said I would buy it from you.
04:21And it wasn't until some months later that I realized that by purchasing, I was contributing
04:27to the very issue that I didn't want to see happen.
04:32And of course, we learned.
04:40Four decades later, Martine has won many awards and accolades, and Wildlife Way Station is
04:46home to more than 400 wild and exotic animals.
04:50Still, Martine considers improving the lives of the animals to be her greatest achievement.
04:56Being able to make a difference for however length of time to the quality of life for
05:03the animals.
05:07Animal care is always the most important thing.
05:13Animals require everything we require, food and shelter, an opportunity to raise young,
05:21an opportunity to be able to move, and an opportunity to be able to live a life for
05:26which they were designed to live a life.
05:31And being somebody's pet in a household is not necessarily giving them that.
05:41I'm not going to say a blanket statement that all pet owners are bad people.
05:46They're not.
05:47But when you look at the amount of unwanted animals that are exotic animals, you sort
05:55of have to say and ask yourself, maybe you should take a piece of the Hippocratic Oath.
06:00First, do no harm.
06:02And I'll give you some examples.
06:05You buy a baby monkey, and it's the cutest thing in the world.
06:09I tell people, don't buy a baby monkey.
06:13Have a baby.
06:14They'll leave home sooner.
06:16You'll have less responsibility.
06:19Because while it's a baby, it's amazing, and it's all yours, and it requires you.
06:25When it grows up, it becomes a mature animal.
06:29Instincts kick in.
06:31Reproduction desires kick in.
06:35A man who owns a female macaque is fine until he brings in a girlfriend.
06:42And the girlfriend now has to compete with this macaque.
06:46The macaque doesn't understand that there is a problem.
06:49So sooner or later, it bites the girlfriend.
06:53Then it has to be quarantined, or it'll be taken away by the authorities.
06:56And the man then has a choice.
06:58You choose a girlfriend, or you choose the monkey.
07:01I recommend they choose the monkey.
07:04I am not against the people.
07:06I'm pro-monkey.
07:09I want the monkeys to have a chance to be who they are and live a life that they're
07:14supposed to live.
07:16Martine aims to provide the animals with a habitat and lifestyle that is as close as
07:21possible to life in the wild.
07:24But where many sanctuaries are non-contact, Martine doesn't discourage human interaction.
07:31I believe captive animals should have human friends, because they're never going to
07:38go out in the wild.
07:39And this is a controversial subject.
07:41Some people don't believe it.
07:43Some people do.
07:44I happen to believe it.
07:46I like the animals trusting us.
07:49When I want to look in somebody's ears, I want to be able to have them come over.
07:53I want to look at their ears.
07:55I want them to open their mouth for me.
07:57I want to see the rear end.
07:58I want to be able to give them a hand injection if I need to.
08:02I want them to be comfortable enough so that we don't have to tranquilize them as many
08:07times to do some basic performances that need to be done.
08:12Those basic performances are usually carried out by the Waystation's resident vet, Rebecca.
08:18I feel incredibly privileged that I get to go to work every day and, you know, see the
08:22tigers.
08:23If I have a bad day, I can go and visit with the lions.
08:26To me, it's a privilege to get to work on them.
08:30But it's also constantly stimulating.
08:32Intellectually working at the Waystation is physically stimulating.
08:36It's a lot of climbing and hanging off of things and working outside in this environment.
08:41So it's fun and different every day.
08:44I have two favorites right now.
08:46Bolero, who's our big male lion, he's wonderful.
08:53Although he marked me in the face not that long ago.
08:55I walked over there with my coffee cup because I go say hi to him in the morning and he was
08:59snuggling at the fence with me mooing and then he just turned around and got me in the
09:03face and the coffee and I was offended and he turned around and walked away.
09:07Bolero and then we have an elderly hyena named Gulliver who has chronic heart disease.
09:15In the wild, hyenas usually only live about 10, maybe 15 years, but in captivity we keep
09:20them well into their 20s, sometimes into their 30s.
09:24We almost lost him a couple of years ago and we hand fed him several times a day for
09:30months thereafter when he was not eating, facing death, and so I just got to where coming
09:38out and sitting there and scratching him.
09:40He's pretty special.
09:42This place has a unique history and I like the idea from a veterinary perspective.
09:46My mandate's very clear.
09:48We're not breeding, we're not exhibiting, we're not selling.
09:51I need to keep them healthy and give them a good quality of life while they're here
09:56and that means I have carte blanche to do what they need and as a vet, that's what you want.
10:03Much of Rebecca's work needs to be carried out with the animals under a general anesthetic.
10:09After all, the Wildlife Way Station's residents are dangerous wild animals and incidents at
10:14sanctuaries are common.
10:17In 2013, an employee at Joe Exotics' Greater Winnewood Wildlife Park lost a hand in an
10:24incident with a tiger.
10:27In the same year, an intern was killed by a lion at a sanctuary in California.
10:32And in 2016, an employee was attacked by a crocodile in an Australian wildlife sanctuary.
10:40As you'd expect, Martine has strong feelings about exotic pets.
10:46A lot of people like to keep reptiles.
10:49And by and large, reptiles can make excellent pets.
10:53They can.
10:55There are things like ferrets and they're very pleaful and they enjoy and they have
11:00a wonderful time.
11:01So yes, there are smaller animals that make great pets.
11:07But it can't scare the neighbors.
11:10It shouldn't be able to eat the people.
11:13It shouldn't require such care that you are being cruel to this animal.
11:20The animal has to get something from it for their own life.
11:25It's got to be good for both parties.
11:27And yes, I know there are wonderful pet owners in the world.
11:32There are.
11:33But when you look at a whole, when you look at the entire animal welfare, again, I go
11:40back to my Hippocratic Oath, first do no harm.
11:44And if you cannot guarantee that every animal is going to be well and happy, then you probably
11:51shouldn't do it.
11:53Although Martine is against keeping wild animals in captivity, she's realistic about the possible
11:59benefits of captive animals.
12:03This is a very difficult argument and it's been, there's lots of pros and cons.
12:09And it depends who you talk to.
12:11I find that most people, unless they have seen something, smelled something, touched
12:18something, felt something, basically it's not in their world and it doesn't mean a lot
12:24to them.
12:26I think children need to see the wonder and the magnificence of animals.
12:36They need to be able to connect to animals some way.
12:40And I know a lot of people will say, yes, but there is films and there is pictures and
12:44there is books.
12:45It's not the same.
12:48There are pictures of apples and there are pictures of trees, but it's not the same as
12:53an apple and a tree.
12:56So I don't know what the future is going to bring, but for the sake of the animals, I
13:03think for people to care about something, for them to protect the animals, they need
13:09to care about the animals.
13:12And to care about the animals, they need to be able to relate to these animals.
13:16They need to be able to identify with them.
13:19They must have some connection.
13:21Otherwise, why would they care?
13:25So I think it's important that we always maintain a connection with wildlife as well as domestic
13:32life, whether that be wild animal parks or whether that will be zoos or whether that
13:38will be some other arena they would get to be developed.
13:41But I think people need that.
13:44And after 40 years in animal rescue, Martine also applies her pragmatic attitude to the
13:49future of facilities like hers.
13:53Ideally, all of us should be striving towards putting ourselves out of business, ideally.
14:02But then there is the real.
14:05And I'm not sure it's going to happen in my lifetime.
14:08Perhaps it will, but I doubt it.
14:14I would never want to see a world without animals.
14:21I would never want to see a world where children do not live amongst animals.
14:31To me, it is absolutely, critically important that people learn where we come from, who
14:39we are.
14:41We are a species like any other species.
14:44We're just smarter.
14:47But our roots are in the same place with everybody else.
14:57The moment I met Allie, I mean, the moment I met Allie and the moment we started rolling
15:04around and hugging and playing and this and that, I knew that I don't want to be an orthopedic
15:09surgeon.
15:10I want to be whatever this is.
15:12I want to do this.
15:15Bob Ingersoll never realized his ambition of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
15:20And Allie would turn out to be the chimp that changed his life.
15:25Allie was the older brother of a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky.
15:30In 1973, two-week-old Nim was given to a family to be raised as a human.
15:37The story of the controversial experiment was told in the 2011 documentary Project Nim.
15:51It was the most joyous experience of my entire life to be with chimps.
15:57And I knew that unconditional kind of a one-on-one, the relationship, the space between the chimp
16:08and you is a beautiful spot if you do it, if you understand it, if you recognize it.
16:15And I did pretty much immediately.
16:18And it was something that I didn't want to give up, and here I am 40 years later.
16:23I became a primatologist, and I have a master's degree in primatology from the University
16:28of Oklahoma under the psych department and an undergraduate degree in psychology.
16:35The experiment, involving Nim and several other chimps, set out to explore the concept
16:41that only humans use language.
16:45The chimps were all taught American Sign Language.
16:49The chimps involved were more than just pets.
16:52They were raised as human members of the family, taking pet ownership to a different level
16:57entirely.
16:59I saw them as my friends immediately.
17:02I mean, I interacted with Allie on the first day as if he were going to be my friend forever,
17:09just like a human friend, no different.
17:12And it surprised me, because I thought it would be like a dog or a cat or, you know,
17:17it wouldn't be like it was, and I can't explain that to you.
17:22Chimps engage you in a way that you're engaging me and that I'm engaging you.
17:29The Nim project drew a lot of criticism.
17:33Much of it centered around the way head researcher Herb Terras saw Nim and his fellow primate
17:38participants.
17:40He lived a hard life, and he got bounced around a lot, and he was looked at by the people
17:45of powers that be as the subject of a scientific experiment, as Herb Terras says in the film.
17:52He never saw him as anything other, and this is a quote directly from him, anything other
17:58than the subject of a scientific experiment.
18:00I thought that was fairly arrogant of him.
18:05Terras' understanding of chimpanzees, and of animals in general at that time, was still
18:09emerging.
18:11Knowing what he does today, Bob would have done some things differently.
18:17We've come a long way in the last 30 or 40 years in terms of animal behavior.
18:20We know they think, they plan, they feel, they have emotions that are very similar to
18:25ours in their context, but you don't know what's going on in the back of my head any
18:31more than we know what's going on in their head.
18:34And we can't think for them.
18:37Bob was involved in previous similar projects with chimpanzees at the University of Oklahoma,
18:43working with Washoe, who in 1966 became the first chimp to be taught to sign.
18:50I worked with Washoe and Allie and several other chimpanzees over the course of the time
18:56I was at the University of Oklahoma.
18:58You know, I saw myself as a scientist and someone who was interested in finding out
19:04about chimpanzee behavior.
19:06It didn't occur to me that captive animals have baggage that really kind of transcends
19:16that ability to collect data that isn't tainted by captivity.
19:22Chimpanzees are unique in the animal kingdom.
19:24They're as intelligent as a five or six year old human, and capable of abstract thinking
19:30and planning.
19:32This often leads humans to forget that they are still wild animals, including some of
19:37the humans involved in Project NIMH.
19:41It was one of those baptism by fire.
19:43If you can do it, you do it, and you're good at it, and if you can't, you're weeded out
19:47fairly quickly.
19:48I mean, lots of people worked out there briefly and got bitten or got scared or realized it
19:55wasn't for them, or chimps are stinky and they smell like chimp poop and this and that.
20:02The average chimp is five times as strong as a human, and many people have been severely
20:08injured in attacks by chimps.
20:11Although Bob and his human colleagues were somewhat naive to the dangers at the time,
20:17there was never a serious incident.
20:20No, no, NIMH never once bit me.
20:24He occasionally came close, like rolling and rough and tumble play, but I knew when to
20:34slow it down and when to go, hey, hey, hey, hey, NIMH, NIMH, hey, buddy, and then calm
20:40him down and, hey, you don't want to bite me?
20:43And my method is not, because I'm obviously not a big guy, my method was, you don't want
20:49to disappoint me, and that worked for me.
20:52And so I was one step ahead of that, you know, I don't want him to react or do something
20:57that he would not want to have done, but sometimes they just don't have the cortical control
21:03that humans do, and so in the heat of play, there might be a situation where he goes a
21:13little bit further than he should, so I could read that.
21:16But he never intentionally ever tried to bite me or attack me or any of that.
21:22And we were buddies, and that's not always the case with all chimps, but NIMH was a special
21:30chimp to me, and I think I was a special person to him.
21:37When the research project came to an end, the chimps, including NIMH, were sold to a
21:42pharmaceutical testing laboratory.
21:47I call this the chimp wall of fame.
21:49So these are all chimp friends of mine.
21:52This is a painting by, or a drawing by a chimp named Moja, one of the smartest chimps I ever
21:58met in my life.
21:59These are Washoe paintings, I think.
22:02This was in several museum shows, but this is signed by Richard Leakey, who did this
22:08painting with Washoe.
22:12So I've had an interesting and somewhat rewarding career with chimps.
22:23I don't know about the word rewarding, but more than at times trying and emotionally
22:30draining and very difficult, emotionally.
22:35And some people couldn't stay in it because it was tough.
22:38It was tough to see this happen to your friends, but I felt like I needed to do what I could.
22:49Being friends with chimpanzees, you might think Bob would be willing to take one on
22:55as a pet.
22:56Well, you know, there's literally millions of dogs and cats out there that need a home.
23:02Let's solve that problem before you go out and get a monkey.
23:05We don't need exotic animals necessarily.
23:08I just think that you can get almost as much from a dog or a cat as you could from any
23:14exotic animal, and you don't put baggage on the dog or the cat.
23:21So I'm glad things are changing.
23:23I feel very, very strongly that the emotional side of this is part of what leads into a
23:32situation like that.
23:34And like Charlotte Nash, for example, who was attacked by Travis the chimp, I think
23:41that those folks are caught in a weird spot because they got their animals not in a malicious
23:51way or not with any bad intention.
23:54They just didn't know and were misled by a breeder or someone who gave them the animal.
24:01And then they found out that, oh, no, that monkey loves me, but not my grandkid, you
24:07know, and that puts people in danger.
24:09I mean, capuchin monkeys, as little as they are, they can put a big hole in you.
24:14And I've actually been bitten by a capuchin monkey.
24:17And I can tell you this, it was a three-legged monkey, weighed about two and a half pounds.
24:22And it was one of the worst bites I've ever had.
24:25I actually had to consult my doctor.
24:30When the NIMH study ended and the subjects sold to medical testing, Bob's life path was
24:36again decided by a chimpanzee.
24:39He began to get involved with animal activism in an attempt to save his chimp friends from
24:44what he saw as a tragic fate.
24:49Legislation passed in 2015, making it illegal to use chimps in invasive testing.
24:55And private owners, too, began looking for alternative homes for their chimpanzees.
25:01You know, nobody wants a three- or four-year-old chimp, maybe, but a six-year-old chimp you
25:06definitely don't want.
25:07I mean, because big chimps can be dangerous.
25:11They're not as fun, you know, because most people are looking for a child replacement.
25:15You've heard it, I'm sure, a million times.
25:17It's my baby.
25:18That's a good baby.
25:19Her's a good baby.
25:20Her's getting tired, isn't she?
25:21Those brothers are so crazy.
25:22Come on, sweetheart.
25:23It's not your baby.
25:24That animal had a mother, a real mother, a real chimpanzee mother, and to suggest that,
25:37like in Project NIMH, I mean, Stephanie Lafarge is like, he's my baby and all that sort of
25:42thing.
25:43I'm like, no, he wasn't.
25:44That was Carolyn's baby, Carolyn the chimp.
25:46I mean, when we took that animal, you're stealing that mother's baby.
25:52How dare us, you know, and then say that we're cross-fostering or any of that kind of stuff,
25:57which is complete bullshit, and I just don't agree with that.
26:03This is Sequoia Washoe's baby.
26:07He is a special guy and didn't last more than a couple of months, but he's right there,
26:14and he meant a lot to a lot of us, and unfortunately, because of our arrogance, we thought that
26:20we knew better.
26:21He ended up, you know, not making it.
26:26This is one of my chimp friends, and they were drawing on the back of this, and then
26:33this chimp got it, chewed it all up, and they put it all back together for me.
26:41Bob and his colleagues eventually succeeded in getting Nim released from the testing lab
26:45and placed in a sanctuary.
26:47He lived alone in that sanctuary for almost a decade.
26:52That's Onan's footprint.
26:54You can see how big his foot was.
26:57That means a lot to me, because I remember that day, I remember taking his foot and putting
27:00it on the paint, and then, come on, Onan, let's make some footprints, you know, so back
27:06when I hadn't come to the spot where I am now, I mean, like, here's Moja holding a camera
27:13very similar to yours, and she was a great photographer, actually.
27:17She knew how the camera worked and all that.
27:19Nim had a Polaroid, so we would let him take, my idea was that we were going to let Nim
27:26take pictures of his favorite places and then place them on a map or whatever and on the
27:32floor of his enclosure, and then we would also have a book, and we would figure out
27:38exactly, because planning and that sort of thing in the 70s was not, you know, not something
27:43that we knew or understood much about in terms of chimps, so I thought, well, he wants to
27:48go to a certain place, let's see if he can tell me where he wants to go in pictures and
27:53sign and all that, cognitive mapping and that sort of thing, but then the ethical issues
28:00started to creep in, and I started to realize, that's really silly.
28:06Nim eventually lived out his life with some of his chimp companions, and he died of heart
28:11failure at the age of 26.
28:14Bob maintained contact with him whenever he was able.
28:20I feel that I am a lucky guy to have had this kind of experience in my life, and that not
28:29very many people get to interact with chimps on that level, and one day, maybe 200 years
28:35from now, people will look back at this and see me and understand exactly why I did it,
28:42because maybe all these problems will be solved and chimps will be in the wild and still there
28:49if the planet exists at all in 200 years, and they'll look back and go, wow, that guy
28:55was one of the last people to ever get to interact with chimps on that level.
29:00Not that I'm proud of that, because if I could go back now, I would probably, if I were God,
29:06I would go back and stop importation of chimps at all into any country and all that sort
29:13of thing, but I'm not.
29:16In the 60s and 70s and 80s, when there wasn't a moratorium on breeding and that sort of
29:21thing, now we're pretty aware of, you know, because captivity is the enemy, I mean, for
29:27all exotic animals, I mean, you put them out of, you take them out of the context that
29:32they should be in and put them into a cage, that changes that animal profoundly.
29:51She was crushed.
29:56It's like she just lost her husband all over again.
30:01I think that's how she felt.
30:03I never thought it was going to happen.
30:05I always thought she was always going to be here.
30:08I never had a problem with her.
30:10It's like an empty space in your heart, you know.
30:15In 2015, not long after her husband Jim passed away, Laura Mattson lost another family member,
30:23taken from her suburban Los Angeles home in a dramatic raid by authorities.
30:29Jackson, an eight-foot alligator, had lived with the Mattsons in their yard of their North
30:35Hollywood home for 38 years.
30:39Jackson and Laura's story is an incredible account of a very unconventional friendship.
30:46She was a gentle animal.
30:47I mean, she never attempted anything, but when you're raised with an animal, they, I
30:54think they know not to be aggressive or whatever, because she never was aggressive at all.
30:59So when she wanted something, she let me know.
31:03She just opened up the sliding glass door and walked on in.
31:07According to Laura, it's easy to forget that she's talking about an alligator, a 300-pound
31:13apex predator that could easily kill her.
31:17I would take her to my bedroom at night if I could.
31:22Someone told me to get a man.
31:27Laura comes from a large family, and while she was struggling with losing her companion,
31:33brother Ron offered unwavering support.
31:36He too had formed a strong bond with Jackson, the alligator.
31:41I loved her, good animal.
31:46I was aware, so you've got to stay aware, I mean, it's an alligator, and we were just
31:52used to it.
31:53You know, coming out, getting into the pen, doing what we had to do as far as cleaning
31:58the pen and feeding the alligator was an everyday thing for us.
32:06While Jackson wasn't Laura's first unusual pet, Ron has never kept any exotic animals.
32:13My sister, you know, she's got every animal.
32:18All I had to do was walk across the street.
32:24A little dog named Herbie.
32:28And rats.
32:29Well, that's because my husband had a boa constrictor, and I had to save the rat.
32:37And then, of course, he populated.
32:39I had a raccoon and a quail.
32:44I had a beaver, but I had to give the beaver back.
32:50And a groundhog, or one of those things underneath the ground in Thousand Oaks.
32:54Oh, he was so cute.
32:57But they needed special places.
33:03Now I'm thinking, no, a beaver.
33:10Everybody's trees are missing.
33:12And they'll be pointing at my house.
33:26It was Laura's husband, Jim, who first brought Jackson home in 1977.
33:32Over the next four decades, the potentially deadly reptile became part of the Matson family.
33:39He loved Jackson.
33:42He looked for Jackson, just like he looked for his 50 murk, so it took him a long time
33:47to find him.
33:48He first found a caiman, which is like an alligator, but he was mean.
33:54So he ended up getting Jackson.
33:58This is where Jackson lived for 38 years.
34:02Well, the first couple years she lived in the house.
34:05Well, she was in the bathroom, in the bathtub, and she loved the water.
34:10She would get out, and finally when she was starting getting out more and more and more
34:14and going out to the bathroom door, that's when we decided to give her her own little
34:19thing out here.
34:22And she loved it out here, I think.
34:25Most animal experts agree that reptiles barely recognize their owners, let alone form emotional
34:32attachments.
34:33But Jackson seems to have been an exception.
34:38I think she really missed my husband after he passed, because I would see her.
34:42She almost went into depression.
34:46I thought, Ronnie, something's wrong with her.
34:49She's not coming out.
34:50Something's wrong.
34:51And so he'd go in there.
34:52No, she's okay.
34:53She growled.
34:54But she wasn't there for a long period of time.
34:57She didn't come out.
34:58I don't know if they sensed something, but she changed a little bit, because he wasn't
35:03there every day.
35:06After Jim passed away, Laura continued to care for Jackson.
35:11Although she did try unsuccessfully to rehome their immense pet, to Laura, Jackson was a
35:17placid animal who never showed any signs of aggression.
35:22Not even towards her own pet cats, one of whom still lives with her.
35:27They're not predators.
35:30I'm sure if they're out in the wild and they're hungry, of course they're predators.
35:36When they're well-fed, they're a beautiful animal.
35:41Laura may have thought Jackson to be a beautiful animal, but how did her neighbors feel about
35:47living so near to a dangerous predator?
35:52Everybody knew about her, so even the neighbors across the street, everybody knew about her.
35:56Everybody wanted pictures of her.
35:58Once they saw her, they were fine.
36:00No one ever went and turned me in or turned us in all those years.
36:06Jackson was not a secret.
36:07For some reason, I didn't think she needed to be a secret.
36:11While most of Laura's neighbors felt safe enough having Jackson nearby, not everyone
36:17would be happy living next door to an alligator.
36:21Best known for her role as Mary Ann on the classic TV sitcom, Gilligan's Island, Dawn
36:27Wells is one North Hollywood resident who wouldn't want a prehistoric predator in her
36:32neighborhood.
36:33I'd move.
36:34I'd sell my house and move.
36:38I don't think I could talk him out of it.
36:40Remember the little ones that you used to get?
36:42Maybe you are from America, but you used to circus, you used to get little tiny alligators
36:46and you'd take them home?
36:47Really?
36:48In a circus, yes.
36:49Yes.
36:50You used to get little alligators and people would put them in their bathtubs?
36:52I don't know if they ever grew up.
36:54I don't know if they died because they weren't in their habitat, which is awful.
36:58But yes, you used to be able to take a little alligator home.
37:03Jackson the alligator had lived peacefully in the Mattson suburban backyard for more
37:08than 30 years without incident and without being reported until a man passing the home
37:16saw Jackson and reported her presence to the authorities.
37:20Ron, recognizing the danger to his sister and her pet, confronted him.
37:28I didn't handle that part too well.
37:32He did what he had to do because he thought he was saving the community.
37:38I don't know how he really ended up back here in the backyard, but he did.
37:44He must have got a broken heart.
37:47He must have got some type of satisfaction from it, but, uh...
37:55Knowing someone I didn't even ever knew, he didn't even live in the neighborhood.
37:58He went up my driveway and he saw Jackson and he was right on the phone immediately.
38:05I can't believe anybody could keep an alligator.
38:07You couldn't train an alligator to be a pet.
38:09If he wants to eat you, he's going to eat you.
38:13Two days later, authorities visited Laura's house, trying to confirm Jackson's presence
38:20and to make arrangements for her removal.
38:24But their first visit to Laura's home saw them leave empty-handed.
38:27The second day, I started seeing them kind of trying to come over this wall over here.
38:34Then they came up and tried to come over this wall, but I stopped both of them.
38:40They had to have a warrant.
38:42You can't just come on somebody's property without a warrant.
38:45How I noticed it wasn't good for us is because they had a car here, here, and on the corner.
38:53So I, like I told my sister, it's over, okay?
38:57So I already knew this was the day, which ended up not being the day.
39:03They couldn't find Jackson when they came in here.
39:06So three months later, I said, I think we should do something quickly because they're
39:13going to come back.
39:16The report about Jackson claimed that Laura had been feeding her feral cats, and even
39:22some neighborhood cats had gone missing.
39:26When authorities canvassed the suburb, only 11 reports of missing pets were recorded over
39:32the previous 40 years.
39:36Never aggressive, never.
39:39She was well-fed, too, so there was no need for her to look for food.
39:44And plus, she was picky.
39:45She only liked chicken hot dogs.
39:47I tried to give her fish.
39:49I tried to give her other stuff.
39:50No way.
39:51She just threw it out of her mouth.
39:54Local police and officers from Animal Control and U.S. Fish and Wildlife soon returned with
40:00a warrant, required to search Laura's property to find and remove Jackson.
40:07I heard some commotion out here, and I just knew from the voices that Jackson was missing.
40:14I knew that Jackson was missing, but I didn't know where he was, and I didn't know if he
40:19commotion out here.
40:21And I just knew from the voices that something was going to happen.
40:26They weren't going to settle for anything.
40:29Jackson was gone, no matter what.
40:30I knew it.
40:31I think my sister knew it, so, no, I'm not saying we broke the law, but we did get attached.
40:48So, they did their job.
40:52We did ours.
40:53Let's put it that way.
40:54It was horrible, especially when they got a warrant, and they went through everything
41:03in my house.
41:04I'm thinking, there's no alligators in my kitchen drawer.
41:06I mean, they went through every drawer.
41:09I don't know what they were looking for, because Jackson was outside.
41:12I wish I would have thought about putting her underneath the house, but I didn't think
41:17about that until later.
41:18So, but they probably wouldn't have left, because this guy took a picture of her.
41:24That turned me in, so.
41:27Laura was right.
41:28This time, the authorities were not leaving without Jackson.
41:33Once I'd seen the warrant, I knew we had a problem.
41:38I knew my sister was in there sleeping.
41:41I knew I had to get her out, because they weren't leaving.
41:45My job is to protect her, and just one thing led to another, and next thing we know, we
41:56got them all over the property.
41:58The police officers, animal control, the zoo ended up coming, so.
42:09I had no rights whatsoever.
42:11They wouldn't tell me anything about her.
42:12They wouldn't let me see her, nothing.
42:15They came back, and they finally found Jackson, and well, we helped them put it in the truck,
42:22and off to the zoo it went, and then we set up a habitat for her.
42:31So she's doing real well now, real well, yeah.
42:39Jackson was re-homed at an alligator park in Colorado, and a GoFundMe campaign was launched
42:45to create a new habitat.
42:48We were the biggest don't-haters, okay.
42:56But she's happy, and we will get back out there to see her.
43:05Despite taking good care of Jackson since the 70s, by not having the relevant permit,
43:10Laura was breaking California law.
43:13But as any animal lover knows, losing a pet is hard, let alone a pet that has been your
43:19constant companion for nearly 40 years.
43:23Now that they ran their law down, how it really works, okay, I understand now, but at that
43:29point, you don't think about stuff like that.
43:32If they would have told me afterwards, I wouldn't have cared about that law.
43:36I would have just kept doing what I was doing, because you get attached, and once you get
43:43attached, that's it.
43:45I think she probably misses me.
43:48I'm sure she misses the chicken legs, and the hot dogs.
43:54When I go to bed at night, I think of her, because that's when she would make the thumping
43:58noises, and I miss that.
44:01But I'm glad she's where she's at.
44:03She's in a beautiful place.
44:58She's in a beautiful place.