May 24, 2007 10:12 pm US/Pacific
L.A.'s Most Wanted: Reggie The Alligator Captured
by Dave Lopez
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Reggie's tail can be seen hanging out of the sling he was carried in after being captured.
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Reggie was spotted several times floating in Machado Lake.
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Reggie the alligator is believed to have been caught.
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After two years of dodging authorities,
Reggie the alligator has been captured.
The rangers had seen Reggie had come up on the lake's grassy area twice over the last two weeks, so a trap baited with chicken was set up. On Thursday, they noticed Reggie crawling up and taking the bait, activating the trap door and catching him in a fenced-in, 300-square-foot area.
The alligator has been spotted several times over the last two years in Lake Machado. He will now be moved to the Los Angeles Zoo, Councilwoman Janice Hahn said.
Hahn, whose district includes Harbor City, said she'd know Reggie anywhere.
"I'm excited and it's unbelievable," said Hahn, while driving in a caravan of vehicles rushing Reggie to the Los Angeles Zoo.
A series of trappers were unsuccessful in catching the gator since it was first spotted in the 53-acre lake at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park during the summer of 2005. Their efforts were suspended during the winter months because the alligator was expected to hibernate.
Hahn was getting ready to meet with zoo and Recreation and Parks Department officials to draw up new plans aimed at capturing Reggie.
A crew of gator wranglers from the Australia Zoo in Queensland was scheduled to come to Harbor City in July, but their services will no longer be needed, Molina said.
Professional gator hunters from Louisiana and Florida had tried and failed to lasso Reggie.
After a long disappearance, Reggie popped back into view at the lake on April 30. Before his return, the gator was last seen in October of 2005, and authorities had speculated whether the reptile may have traveled to a nearby flood control channel or died.
Alligators are not native to California and it is illegal to keep them as pets. Reggie was apparently dumped into Lake Machado by a former cop and an accomplice when the alligator became too large for a backyard pond.
Ex-officer Todd Natow and Anthony Brewer, both from nearby San Pedro, were arrested in August 2005.
Natow, an LAPD officer from 1984 to 2001, pleaded not guilty to 14 misdemeanors stemming from the alleged possession of the alligator and the reptile's release into the lake.
Brewer pleaded no contest to a violation of the state Fish and Game Code for releasing an alligator into the lake, and was sentenced to three years probation and 45 days of Caltrans work.
Since Reggie was first spotted, parts of the shoreline have been blocked off and signs posted warning visitors of the presence of the alligator.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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