Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

SCOTTSDALE - A 400-pound, nine-foot-long American Alligator has outgrown his home at the Phoenix Herpetological Society. He is moving to a preserve in Florida.

Spike will be transferred to his new keepers in a specially built crate on January 10.

PHS President Russ Johnson and Curator Dan Marchand plan to drive him cross country, because he is over the weight limit to fly.

Spike is one of the largest of the sanctuary's nearly 1500 animals, so handling him will be challenging.

He was rescued in 2005 after 32 illegally kept reptiles were seized by law enforcement in Casa Grande.

The alligator later became a local celebrity and education ambassador for the sanctuary.

"Spike has been a member of the PHS family," Johnson said. "We are going to miss him, but he has outgrown his enclosure here.