Abused Alligator Found Captive in Ohio Home [VIDEO]

Humane Society officials in Dayton, Ohio removed an alligator from the basement of a local man after reports that the 7-foot-long animal was being abused.

Authorities said the alligator was malnourished, had a bone disease as a result of being kept out of the sun for 15 years and was regularly taunted by local teenagers, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Humane Society of Greater Dayton confiscated the 15-year-old gator Sunday after being alerted to animal abuse by a video posted on Facebook that showed the animal being taunted by teenagers, one of whom doused the creature in beer.

Officials also said that the alligator should have been at least 10 feet long, but its confinement in a small plastic tub in a poorly lit basement stunted the animal's growth. The alligator is missing many teeth and the ones it still has are broken or infected, the AP reported.

"When we brought him out in to the sun, he actually just closed his eyes for a long time. It was really sad," Tim Harrison, director of Dayton-based Outreach For Animals, which specializes in rescuing wild and exotic animals throughout Ohio, said to the AP.

Animal cruelty charges may be filed against the animal's captor, David Keefers,  who reportedly left his back door unlocked so that local youth to come and see the alligator.

"We can't stress enough how dangerous these animals are," Sheila Marquis, lead humane agent for Humane Society of Greater Dayton, told the Dayton Daily News. "They don't belong in houses or basements. They belong either in registered sanctuaries or in the wild where they can thrive, grow and nature takes it course." 

The abused reptile was placed in the care of a veterinarian and will reportedly be transferred to a wildlife refuge in Florida to live out the rest of its days.

In captivity, alligators can live to be as old as 75.