An ailing alligator was seized from an upstate New York home where it was being kept illegally, state officials said.
Environmental conservation police officers seized the 750-pound (340-kilogram), 11-foot-long (3.4-meter-long) alligator on Wednesday from a home in Hamburg, south of Buffalo.
The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator and allowed people, including children, to get into the water with the reptile, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications, among other health issues. The reptile was sent to a licensed caretaker until a place is found where it can receive permanent care, according to a release from the agency.
That doesn’t negate my point in the slightest. Why do we care about this one animal while doing fuckall about the billions of others we kill every single day?
We tend to care more about pets than we do farmed animals. I do think the distinction is a little silly overall but that is currently the way it is.
Probably the same reason you buy gifts for your friends but not for strangers: emotional bonds are not universal.