Meet Alibo — the 100-year-old Tipperary alligator who is getting a makeover

Sarah Horgan charts the remarkable journey of an alligator from the USA 1920s to the wall of a Tipperary teenager’s bedroom

Rosa Ryan of Thurles, with Alibo the alligator. Although it frightened her as a child, she now plans to hang the historic gator above her bed. Picture: Chani Anderson

Most teenagers’ bedrooms are littered with clothes, make-up, trophies and school stuff. But for 18-year-old Rosa Ryan, pride of place goes to Alibo — a 100-year-old stuffed alligator.

It was during a clean-out of her late grandmother Mary’s home in Tipperary that Rosa spotted the century-old alligator and staked her claim on him.