Alligator reported missing from Spokane Valley home

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- Animal control officials are searching for a 3-foot alligator that neighbors say a man was keeping in his yard.

The Spokesman-Review reports that a neighbor called the Spokane County Regional Protection Service on Wednesday to report that the man was keeping the small alligator. When officials arrived at the University Mobile Home Park the alligator was gone.

Officials say the presumed owner of the animal was also gone when animal control officers arrived.

Keeping an alligator is illegal in Washington.