well, i'm sure the alligator would have served as a wonderful deterrent for would be thieves. We all know why they are so ornery afterall.
I had a rabbit in college during a time period where i seemed to be pretty dead set on having a small zoo occupy my apartment. Once while giving it a bath i found out that rabbits can actually scream. It was horrifying. We never gave "fluffy" a bath ever again after that.