KENTUCKY (WEHT) – A Harlan County man is facing numerous charges following an investigation into reports of an alligator in a creek near the community of Big Laurel.
According to a news release, a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Conservation officer searched a portion of Greasy Creek just off KY 2008 while acting on a tip. The officer located a 4.5-foot alligator and a blood trail leading to the highway.
A relative of Cameron Cornett, 23, told the officer that Cornett brought the alligator to Kentucky from Florida and kept the animal in an enclosure in his front yard until it escaped two or three weeks prior. A video of the alligator in the creek surfaced on social media and the relative instructed them to kill the animal. The news release says that the relative and another person killed the animal.
Cornett was charged with illegally transporting and possessing an inherently dangerous exotic (non-native) animal, not reporting its escape to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and not having a permit or documentation for other exotic animals in his possession.