https://www.detroitnews.com/st...C%20Josh%20Applebaum's

Reader’s Digest version.

Guy decides to move up north with his pet Alligator, he’s a Tic Tok star according to the article.

Speeds past cop, decides to run as he had several warrants. Gets stuck in a non vehicular trail.

Gator is taken to a rescue, guy tries to get it back but is made to pitch which one is his.

Cannot pick out his “pet” in a lineup.

Now contemplating legal action. Probably will start a Go Fund Me page next.

“Pure Michigan”

P.S. sorry everybody but now this is behind a paywall. I imagine it will be picked up in other media soon so I’ll leave this link up for now.

The links sends me to a “Subscribers Only” message.

Disregard, you solved it.

0-0

quote:

Originally posted by 0-0:
The links sends me to a “Subscribers Only” message.

0-0

Yeah, sorry, I was able to view it earlier without that, I’ll try to copy it if possible.

Oakland County man seeks reunion with alligator, Karen, being held in northern Michigan
Mark Hicks
The Detroit News
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For 13 months, Josh Applebaum's constant companion was Karen, an alligator who loved to snuggle and follow the Oak Park native around as a puppy would, he said.

Until 10 days ago, they had rarely been apart. But after a run-in with the law in northern Michigan, Applebaum may need court intervention for a reunion.

The alligator remains at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotics in Lake City, where authorities turned her over while Applebaum was briefly in custody.

The rescue said they have a right to keep Karen after Applebaum failed to identify her among other gators at the site. He claims they are unfairly holding his property because of hostility toward him.

"It’s just ridiculous," the 39-year-old told The Detroit News on Monday night. "I need to get her out of there now. The trouble began the night of June 11, when Applebaum was driving with his nearly 3-year-old alligator in Lake County, near where he hoped to relocate for more space.

A Lake County Sheriff's Office patrol sergeant patrolling US-10 spotted his vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and moved to pull him over, but Applebaum, who had several arrest warrants from another jurisdiction, fled, representatives said in a statement.

The vehicle led deputies and Michigan DNR law enforcement on a brief pursuit that ended with the vehicle being stuck between two trees on the Rails-To-Trails pathway near S. Forman Rd in Webber Township," according to the release.

"...Karen is not facing any charges at this time. We believe she was an unwilling participant during the incident, nor do we believe she was ever in control of the vehicle."

Applebaum said he erred but feared losing Karen, whom he bought at a Roseville pet store and has gained thousands of followers through videos on the TikTok platform

"I panicked in a stressful situation," he said. "I didn't want to lose the most valuable thing in my life."

As Applebaum was sent to jail for the night, sheriff's officials transferred Karen to the Cicchelli facility, which sits on 25 acres.

Karen when she was taken by police on June 11.
Applebaum said he tried to retrieve her after being released the next day but April Cicchelli told him it wouldn't be possible until the following Friday since she was unavailable.

A misunderstanding about Cicchelli's online post mentioning Karen led to him being "advised he could not come onto our property to visit," she said in a Facebook post Friday.

Applebaum said he was unhappy about how he believed Karen was being treated

On Friday, after checking with sheriff's officials, Applebaum said he and his mother went to the site unannounced to retrieve Karen but were denied entry. He sought help from police and was allowed in to pick out Karen among the alligators in an enclosure, but "I couldn’t get within 10 feet of them," he said. "How am I supposed to inspect the alligators to pick which one is Karen?"

Reached Monday night, April Cicchelli and her husband, Ryan, said they allowed Applebaum to spend more than 30 minutes checking multiple alligators as nearly 200 others were visiting but he repeatedly picked the wrong one.

"We decided it was plenty enough time for him to identify and us to resume our operation hours without him causing a scene at our facility," April Cicchelli said, adding police told them they could choose whether to release Karen back to Applebaum.

Ryan Cicchelli said customers aren't allowed to enter the enclosure since it's a liability, and a worker brought multiple alligators to Applebaum for him to check.

"I think we went above and beyond to try to work with him," he said. "There's just no outcome of him taking the wrong gator. If he goes through his court stuff and gets stuff figured out, we’ll just have to see what it looks like. ... If he gets the alligator and he goes back to jail, then what’s the outcome of that?"

Applebaum disagrees, saying he believes the Cicchellis gave him the runaround.

On Friday, after checking with sheriff's officials, Applebaum said he and his mother went to the site unannounced to retrieve Karen but were denied entry. He sought help from police and was allowed in to pick out Karen among the alligators in an enclosure, but "I couldn’t get within 10 feet of them," he said. "How am I supposed to inspect the alligators to pick which one is Karen?"

Reached Monday night, April Cicchelli and her husband, Ryan, said they allowed Applebaum to spend more than 30 minutes checking multiple alligators as nearly 200 others were visiting but he repeatedly picked the wrong one.

"We decided it was plenty enough time for him to identify and us to resume our operation hours without him causing a scene at our facility," April Cicchelli said, adding police told them they could choose whether to release Karen back to Applebaum.

Ryan Cicchelli said customers aren't allowed to enter the enclosure since it's a liability, and a worker brought multiple alligators to Applebaum for him to check.

"I think we went above and beyond to try to work with him," he said. "There's just no outcome of him taking the wrong gator. If he goes through his court stuff and gets stuff figured out, we’ll just have to see what it looks like. ... If he gets the alligator and he goes back to jail, then what’s the outcome of that?"

Applebaum disagrees, saying he believes the Cicchellis gave him the runaround.
Everybody has a bad day. Just because I made a mistake doesn’t mean you get to steal my alligator from me," he said.

Applebaum is exploring his next steps, including seeking an attorney.

For now, he can barely sleep thinking about his pet not lounging in her pool at home or sipping from a spray bottle as she's accustomed to.

"I haven't been able to stop pacing," he said. "She is literally like my child

quote:

The rescue said they have a right to keep Karen after Applebaum failed to identify her among other gators at the site. He claims they are unfairly holding his property...

He's made some very bad decisions (warrants, fleeing, etc), but I have to agree with him on this. Not tagging the animal so it can be returned to owner is a chickenshit move. Also, it's not up to them what happens to the animal if he ultimately goes to jail.

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Not tagging the animal so it can be returned to owner is a chickenshit move. Also, it's not up to them what happens to the animal if he ultimately goes to jail.

Yep agree the farm is messing with him in order to keep the gator from him, not that its a good idea to have a gator in your house.

If it was a shelter hiding the guys dog the outrage would be significant against the shelter.

The rescue definitely mismanaged the situation, I’ll give him that. Should have been tagged, banded, segregates, something until he bailed out. So it’s off to court for him and the rescue owners.

There is no law in Michigan prohibiting owning an Alligator.

I imagine the county animal control refused to take charge of it.

We ran into a situation in 1980’s New Mexico. MVA, driver fatally injured, his wife, three kids and his illegal B-I-L were injured but not seriously, suspected that they were smuggling the B-I-L up the back roads from Mexico. They had two fighting cocks in cages that were uninjured and at that time they were not illegal in that state.

We could not find any animal control to take the, finally the ex-Sheriff found a farm that would take them until the wife made some decisions.

They need to give that man his alligator back.

And I gripe when I’m asked to pet sit either of my daughters dog or cats for a weekend…..

Don’t think I’m going to offer to foster a gator…

My mom had a gator as a pet growing up. Apparently it got too big and became “feisty” so they released it into the Elizabeth River. I’d like to think it found it’s way to Florida or found some fool soulmate along the way but Virginia’s winter probably ended it’s adventures.

From Roadside Zoo News .org:

Key takeaways:
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue lied to USDA inspectors and hid a cougar from them.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue was keeping a cougar in the owners’ home with no enclosure except a small dog crate in a furnace room surrounded by junk.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue lied to USDA inspectors about their acquisition of an otter.
Numerous animals at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue were found to be in freezing conditions including an olive baboon, two rhesus macaques and five kinkajous.
A zebra was found with no access to water at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and when provided with water the zebra drank for 90 seconds.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue is providing inadequate diets with insufficient calcium to their wildcats.
Ryan and April Cicchelli lack adequate experience and knowledge of the species of animals that they own.
An olive baboon at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue had 13 growths on its head but the animal had not received veterinary attention.
22 animals at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue were housed in barns with no lights, preventing thorough examination of the animals or their enclosures.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue houses endangered ring-tailed lemurs in an unsafe dog kennel on concrete floors in a garage infested with mice.

Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotics in Lake City, Michigan, has been cited with 18 federal violations based on a January 26, 2022, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection.

Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and Exotics is a roadside zoo owned by Ryan and April Cicchelli. The pair was cited with a critical violation at the January inspection for repeatedly interfering with the inspection by providing false information to Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) inspectors. The USDA report indicates that the facility failed to keep records for a cougar, a North American river otter and an African crested porcupine that they had Key takeaways:
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue lied to USDA inspectors and hid a cougar from them.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue was keeping a cougar in the owners’ home with no enclosure except a small dog crate in a furnace room surrounded by junk.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue lied to USDA inspectors about their acquisition of an otter.
Numerous animals at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue were found to be in freezing conditions including an olive baboon, two rhesus macaques and five kinkajous.
A zebra was found with no access to water at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue and when provided with water the zebra drank for 90 seconds.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue is providing inadequate diets with insufficient calcium to their wildcats.
Ryan and April Cicchelli lack adequate experience and knowledge of the species of animals that they own.
An olive baboon at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue had 13 growths on its head but the animal had not received veterinary attention.
22 animals at Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue were housed in barns with no lights, preventing thorough examination of the animals or their enclosures.
Cicchelli Second Chance Rescue houses endangered ring-tailed lemurs in an unsafe dog kennel on concrete floors in a garage infested with mice.

Give the man his gator back with the understanding that if the wrong gator or even the correct gator is returned then the shelter cannot be held responsible when the gator attacks him........................... drill sgt.

Everything in our society is needlessly complicated:
1- Give this idiot his man eating pet back and hope fervently that it munches him.
2- 18 Federal violations and cant figure out they needed to return the gator to the rightful owner? Close the damn place down and jail everybody but the animals!

And the lawsuits against the S.O. and the rescue will start in 3-2-1…

Apple Baum may have struck paydirt!