Frenchman who sleeps with alligators seeks refuge for venomous menagerie

His neighbours have cats and dogs, but when 72-year-old Philippe Gillet settles down to watch television there is usually an alligator dozing beside him.

His bungalow in western France is also home to a venomous Gabonese viper, a spitting cobra, a python, alligator turtles that can bite off a finger, tarantulas and scorpions.

When someone unfamiliar enters Gillet's living room, Gator, a two-metre-long alligator, growls from under a coffee table.

"Calm down," said Gillet and Gator went back to his snooze near Alli, another dozing alligator.

"When there is a storm he comes to sleep in my bed," said Gillet. "People think I am mad."

Videos of such episodes and other everyday tales of his deadly menagerie of 400 animals have made Gillet a social media star. They also promote his Inf'Faune charity which aims to educate people about the animals he is so passionate about.

Gillet lived in Africa for 20 years, working as a hunting guide. He said he would often catch crocodiles there to keep them away from villages.

Back in France, he became a herpetologist -- a specialist on reptiles and amphibians. He made his base in Coueron, west of Nantes, with his partner, their children, and the animals.

In the garden is Nilo, a Nile crocodile, who Gillet said was "one of the most dangerous species". Chickens wandered by scratching for food.

Most of the animals were bought or given to him by people who could no longer care for them. France's customs department has also sometimes turned to him.

"You cannot just free them," said Gillet. "With global warming, freed cobras could reproduce and spread. Is that what we are going to leave our kids?"

Financing his passion has become a problem since the Coronavirus epidemic however.

With his internet following, Gillet has already raised 15,000 euros for the centre. "There are refuges for dogs and cats, why not for these unloved" species.