Detroit police find alligator, dead body in home during wellness check; Exotic pet taken to sanctuary

DETROIT (WWJ) — A pet alligator is getting a new home after her owner was found dead during a wellness check at a home in Detroit.

Detroit police were called to do a wellness check Monday morning after a resident had not been seen or heard from in weeks, according to a report from Fox 2 .

The homeowner was found dead inside the home, according to the report. No foul play is suspected.

During the wellness check, officers made quite the discovery — a four-foot-long female alligator in a cage, as well as a dog. Neither had eaten for weeks, according to the report.

Officers called Detroit Animal Care and Control and the alligator, which the city named named Izzy, was transferred to Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Athens, Michigan, about 15 miles south of Battle Creek.

Alligators and other exotic animals are illegal to own in Detroit, per city ordinances. Crystal Perkins, the director of the city’s General Services Department, told Fox 2 that’s because they can become a danger to the public when they grow too big.

"Once they grow, they grow out of your home, they become a danger not just to you but to others,” she said, according to the Fox report.

The homeowner’s cause of death has not been determined.