Thieves release moody alligator

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Would you upset an alligator named Mr. Cranky Pants?
Some thieves who chanced it soon changed their minds.
The 4-year-old alligator was stolen from a reptile park north of Sydney over the weekend, but officials at the zoo said today the thieves may have underestimated his moodiness and let him go.
"Mr. Cranky Pants is a cranky pants. He gets moody, and so they probably messed with the wrong alligator and dumped him," said Al Mucci, from the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby on New South Wales state's central coast.
Thieves had scaled two barbed-wire fences and climbed into an alligator pit before stealing the 4-foot beast, Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio said today. Park officials then raised the alarm, concerned for his safety.
Following a tip from the public, rangers found the reptile in a nearby creek.
"He looks relieved to be back. You can tell with alligators by their eyes whether they're stressed or not stressed, and he looks glad to be back," Mucci said.