A man illegally decorated his truck with pieces of an alligator's body, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Monday.
Officers Luis Merizio and Casey Schroer said they stopped a truck to check for the occupant's day-use pass in a wildlife management area near Lake Okeechobee when they found an alligator's foot in the dashboard of the man's truck.
Wildlife officials also found more alligator parts scattered throughout the cab of the truck.
The driver, Raymond Fettig, 18 told the officers that the parts were from an alligator that he hunted a few years ago, but the officers could smell that the alligator had been recently killed, the FWC said.
Fettig later said he'd dismantled the gator a few nights prior, after an acquaintance shot and killed it.
Fettig was charged with violating the state’s administrative code pertaining to alligators, where no person can buy, sell, take, possess, transport or import any American alligator or any part thereof, unless permitted to do so. It is a misdemeanor.
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