Pierce County sheriff's deputies were startled when they entered a house near here during a drug bust and found- an alligator.

"It's alarming in that it's big enough and its mouth looked big enough, that if it were to bite it would definitely do some serious damage," sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said of the 4-foot-long alligator.



Sheriff's officers said they believed the alligator belonged to one of two men arrested in Friday's raid. He will also face investigation for illegal possession of an exotic animal as well as drug allegations.

As for the alligator, deputies contacted animal services, which turned it over to an animal rescue group called Predators of the Heart. A rescue group representative said the alligator was in good condition.