Dogs

Couple Shocked as Dog Brings Home an Alligator Head

the daily dish More on PawNation: Alligators, Discovery, Dogs, Exotic, The Dish, Weird

By Kelli Bender Dec 7th 2012

You never know where a game of fetch will take you. According to the Daily Mail U.K., a dog in Missouri returned to his home from an outing with an alligator head in tow. Debbie and Mike VanNoy say that their dog Shelby often brings back "gifts," but this is by far the most exotic.

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"We'd seen every kind of animal you can think of. I never thought I'd see an alligator. I just couldn't believe it and I thought it had to be plastic or something," Mike VanNoy told WDAF-TV.

Figuring the rest of the creature must be resting somewhere, the family started searching for the alligator. They found the 5-foot-long body not far from their home, near a local playground used by their grandchildren.

It is alarming for the VanNoys to think that a deadly animal could be so close to local children, but they're hoping it is an isolated occurrence. Officials believe that the alligator was an illegal pet that escaped or was set free by its owner.

The head was shipped off to a research facility in Colorado to get an idea of how long the body had been there. Over the shock, the VanNoys are now working on getting the rest of the remains safely removed from the area.

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