Mysterious Reptile
Evades Capture in L.A. Park
August 16, 2005 — By Reuters
LOS ANGELES — A mysterious,
alligator-like creature that surfaced in a Los Angeles suburb has eluded
capture for nearly a week, shrewdly passing up raw chicken bait and
dodging reptile wranglers in pontoon boats.
The 5-foot-long reptile was first spotted last Wednesday swimming in a
lake at an urban park in the gritty Los Angeles suburb of Harbor City.
Park officials concluded that it was probably a Caiman, a relative of
the alligator indigenous to South America, and speculate that it may
have been an exotic pet that was abandoned when it grew too large.
As word of the odd sighting spread, hundreds of spectators have turned
up to watch crews of police, firefighters, park rangers, state fish and
wildlife workers and even local herpetologists comb the 53-acre lake in
pontoon boats, carrying nets and dangling raw chicken over the side.
Park officials are planning to take the reptile to the LA zoo when they
capture it but all efforts so far to nab the creature have failed,
despite claims by a local fisherman that he briefly ensnared it in a net
by using flour tortillas as bait.
"They're very fast, you can't believe how fast these animals are,"
Jarron Lucas of the Southwestern Herpetologist Society told local KABC-TV.
"Everybody's got their roll of electrical tape," he said. "If I'm on top
of him the next person who runs up on top of me can quickly secure his
mouth. If that happens here, you'll see everybody dog pile right on top
of him."
Source: Reuters |