Author Topic: Giant Caiman Invades L.A. Lake (Read 345 times)

mrtonguetwista · « **on:** August 15, 2005, 05:56:39 PM »

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Park visitors have gone from feeding ducks and fish to nourishing a scaly green creature more likely found in Amazonian swamps than a Los Angeles lake - a giant crocodile-like caiman.

Since a gardener spotted it last Friday, people have tried to glimpse the 200-pound reptile wading and sunbathing at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park.

Like many Angelenos, the animal is an immigrant who is quickly adopting to its new home. It has already acquired, for example, a nickname matching its Latin American roots and its penchant for tortillas tossed by visitors: Carlito.

``They'll swallow anything, and if they can't swallow it, they'll tear pieces until they can eat it,'' said Jarron Lucas of the Southwestern Herpetologist Society.

Lucas' group, at the request of park rangers, is attempting to capture the animal with nets and a raw chicken, then give it a home at the Los Angeles Zoo. That could take a month, officials say.

Cousins to the crocodile, caimans are mostly found in Central and South America. Experts believe this one, estimated to be as long as 8 feet, was released by its owner.

``They pick up this little reptile that looks really cute when it's little. But when it gets big and starts looking and acting scary, they don't want it any more,'' Lucas said.

On Saturday, visitors lobbed French bread and jelly doughnuts at the park's 50-acre lake. The caiman didn't bite, though it surfaced several times.

In the afternoon, it was found sunbathing on a grassy area along the shore. When a small lifeguard boat whizzed by, the animal slid into the water and disappeared.

On Sunday, visitors scanned the waters with binoculars and video cameras while officials kept them 80 feet from shore behind yellow police tape.

``It's such an urban area, people just don't see wildlife and people run across it, and they're like, 'Oh, nature!' It scares them,'' said Bonnie Lea, a member of the herpetologist society.

Eight-year-old Cheyenne Espinoza was among those irked by the caiman. She wanted to bring a metal bat from her Harbor City home, but her father wouldn't let her.

``I was going to knock the gator out,'' she said.