Zookeepers don't always know what they're talking about....I know from first hand experience with several (I spent a year after vet school volunteering at one zoo, eight weeks during the last year of vet school at another zoo, and five weeks in Africa with keepers from a third zoo).
In this case, though, it's more complicated than just ignorance.
First -- reptiles are different from mammals. For one thing, they have melanin AND erythrin. For another, their pigment can be heavily influenced by environment during incubation. So it's often difficult to say what is truly "albino" or not when talking about reptiles, and many people will call animals "albino" even when they have lots and lots of pigment.
Second -- some white animals are "albinistic", while others are called "leucistic". "Leucism" can mean different things to different people, but basically a leucistic animal is one in which the CELLS WHICH PRODUCE MELANIN (the melanocytes) do not migrate to their "normal" locations. A spotted cat is leucistic in its white areas -- the melanocytes did not migrate to those areas. In contrast, an albino animal HAS melanocytes in the normal places, but the melanocytes ARE NOT PRODUCING MELANIN. Now, obviously, if an animal is completely leucistic -- if the melanocytes did not travel to any part of the skin -- then it's going to look pretty much like an albino. HOWEVER, it is going to be rare to find a leucistic animal that doesn't even have melanocytes in its eyes, especially in the retina. So almost every leucistic animal you see will have normally pigmented eyes, or at least black pupils (they will look black because there is pigment in the retina).
Now, are those white alligators albino or leucistic?? I dunno. But albinos certainly CAN have blue eyes -- just check the web site for the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, or the web site for the International Albinism Center -- and anyone who says differently just hasn't done enough reading.
----
Ione
Facts About Albino Dobermans --
http://www.whitedobes.com