STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. It's hard when a kid leaves home, but for Dusty Rhoades of Groveport, Ohio, it was time. Twenty-five years ago, Mr. Rhoades obtained a baby alligator at a flea market. Last week, officials learned the gator, now five feet long, still lived in the basement. WBNS reports the gator had to go; Rhoades had no exotic animal permit. Experts took it to an animal sanctuary in Myrtle Beach. They grow up so fast, and they're gone too soon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.