[family gator] party pooper protectors purloin pet

State wildlife officials in Brattleboro, Vermont, have confiscated a two-metre alligator that had been living in a family's home for seven years. A bemused reptile expert warned: "They just don't warm to people. They don't ever become friendly. They don't make good pets."

Now is that fair? Just walking in without so much as a by-your-leave and nicking a child's pet gator. It hasn't snapped any one in two or deathrolled a child in all that time. Besides, two metres isn't so big. It'll get much bigger than that.

Curious, I thought I'd read up on the Gator from "How Stuff Works" and this is what they said about a pet gator:

An alligator's brain weighs only 8 or 9 grams and would take up only one-half of a tablespoon. This lack of brain power means there is no such thing as a "nice alligator". If it is hungry, an alligator will eat anything that moves. Pets and children who wander near an alligator pond are frequent victims of this instinctive behavior.

Wonder how the officers found out.