Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The longtime owner of Hamburg's now famous Albert the Alligator was in State Supreme Court on Thursday.
Tony Cavallaro is challenging the legality of the State Department of Environmental Conservation's decision to seize his alligator earlier this year.
"She kept repeating herself with penal code this, penal code that," Cavallaro told WBEN after a judge heard arguments from the two sides.
Cavallaro claims the seizure of the 750-pound alligator from his Hamburg home back in March was excessive, and he was not allotted the time to update his license, which he is asking to have reinstated.
He also had issues with some of the requirements the state is asking him to fulfill.
"They want me to have zoo insurance. I don't understand. I'm not a zoo, my house is not a zoo," Cavallaro told WBEN. "I don't want the public in my house, I never let the public in my house. It was always friends and people I know. Nobody can knock on my door and say, 'Can I see the alligator?'"
"That never happened, ever... Well, maybe during the tornado... there was 100 people on this street at a time. People were curious, but it was usually my neighbors' friends."
A decision is expected within 60 days.