While making a routine traffic stop while patrolling the Corbett Wildlife Management area just east of Lake Okeechobee, Florida, two Florida Fish and Wildlife officers made an unusual discovery.
After pulling over the vehicle to check for required daily use permits, the officers noticed alligator body parts sticking out of the dashboard of the truck and stuffed into the vehicles ashtray. The driver, 18-year- old Raymond John Fettig and his 17-year-old passenger immediately faced questioning from the officers regarding the alligator parts.
The two teens went on to inform the officers that the parts belonged to an alligator they had harvested on a hunt from years past. It was shortly after that conversation that the officers caught wind of an odor coming from the bed of the truck, a stench they were told was chicken livers from a fishing trip.
Upon further inspection, the officers located a severed alligator foot in the back of the truck with meat still inside.
After further interrogation, the youngsters finally admitted they had illegally killed the gator a few nights prior before dismembering it.
Fettig now faces a misdemeanor charge of illegally harvesting an American alligator without a permit.