Man Forgets His Alligator, Leaves it in a Cheboygan Motel Room

Imagine you are a housekeeping employee in a motel. You go through the rooms in the morning to clean up, change the sheets.....and then go into the bathroom and find AN ALLIGATOR.

That’s what happened in Cheboygan when an overnight customer of the Pine River Motel checked out on the morning of March 13 (2025) but left his pet alligator behind. Forget that it was an alligator – how could anyone leave any pet behind? Okay, it sounds like it may not have been a pet, but more of an exhibit...but even so...

After doing some checking, officers of the Cheboygan Police Department discovered the customer in question was traveling from school to school, on a tour with a slew of exotic animals. But forgetting a gator?

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According to Up North Live, Motel manager Gary said “Friday, we came in to clean it (the room), me and my nephew. I always have him look under the beds for garbage, paper, anything like that”.

Upon entering, one of them spotted what looked like an alligator:
“There’s a literal alligator in one of the rooms.”
“Is it real?”
“Well, it moved”.

Police contacted Animal Control and notified them about the reptile. After they detected the customer’s identity, they traced him and found out he was already in Detroit. He was contacted and told to come back and get the gator. Officers waited hours for the guy to get back to get Wally, the name given to the alligator.

Were the cops in danger while they waited? Nah. The man had owned Wally for around eleven years and by that time it was basically domesticated. Hearing this, officers took turns holding him and getting selfies!

Upon prodding by several members of the press to find out the name of the gator owner, the officers and animal control officials are keeping his identity quiet.