Investigators say more than 60 reptiles were left without water and heat in an abandoned warehouse in the Upstate.
It's been more than three months since authorities made charges in the case, but the owner of the animals has still not been tracked down.
Nigel Platt says an alligator was laying in rotting food and his own filth when he found him.
Platt says, "I can only describe it as salmonella city, or it was a salmonella soup."
Platt rescued the alligator and more than 60 other reptiles. Rattlesnakes, cobras, and tortoises were among the reptiles Platt says he found abandoned in an old warehouse in Westminster last November.
Platt says, "The animals were in the worst condition I have ever seen animals kept in."
Platt says there was no heat and no water for the reptiles, and about half a dozen were dead.
The state Department of Natural Resources charged the animals' owner, Joel La Rocque, with animal abandonment and not having a permit for the alligator. DNR says La Rocque was found guilty on those charges in December, but he did not show up to court and a bench warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Platt says, "I believe that anyone who is cruel to animals needs to be punished and punished severely."
As far as the reptiles go, they are getting healthier and will now have a second chance at life.
The tortoises, some of the non-venemous snakes, and the alligator can all be taken to schools and churches to educate kids, and all of the animals will stay at Safe Haven and Educational Adventures, a non-profit organization, where they will continue to receive care.
Platt says, "We're human beings, and we're responsible for looking out for these animals if we have them in captivity."
Henry Barnett with the Department of Natural Resources says authorities think Joel La Rocque, the former owner of the reptiles, is in Georgia, but Barnett says the charges he faces aren't serious enough to have him brought back to South Carolina. Again, DNR says a judge has issued a bench warrant for La Rocque's arrest.
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