150 Crocodiles, Alligators Rescued From Man's Home, Some 9 Feet Long

TORONTO (CBS Detroit) Apparently overwhelmed by a situation that got "out of control," a man called an animal sanctuary and asked for help caring for his collection of crocodiles and alligators.

He had 150 of them -- some as big as 9 feet long -- inside aquariums at his house. And many of them had been there more than 10 years.

The smallest one was 3 feet long.

Bry Loyst of the Indian River Reptile Zoo near Peterborough, Ont., stepped in to help.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Loyst said Thursday on CBC Radio's "Metro Morning" show. "I could not believe that somebody had that many crocodilians and raised them to adulthood. These were not baby little crocodiles," he said. "They were adults."

It took 20 volunteers, four trucks and dozens of large cardboard tubes used in construction as concrete forms to rescue the reptiles.

While it is illegal in the city to keep oversized reptiles as pets, it does not appear the man was charged with anything. He had reportedly been taking good care of his charges.

"I think it started out as a business and he fell in love with the crocodiles and kept them as pets," Loyst told the CBC.

The man in question placed the right call when he decided he couldn't do it anymore. The Indian River Reptile Zoo is in the midst of erecting a million-dollar building to house large reptiles.

While he didn't face charges, he didn't get of scot-free either. After they took his crocs, the man made "an extremely large" donation to the facility, the CBC said.