May 13, 2007 3:44 pm US/Pacific
Late Steve Irwin's Crew To Try To Capture Reggie
HARBOR CITY, Calif. (CBS) ―
California's most-famous alligator is hereby on notice: a team of crocodile hunters from the late Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo will soon be on the way to Los Angeles to try to remove Reggie the alligator from his murky park lagoon.
City councilwoman Janice Hahn said logistics are almost complete for a July 10 expedition, when a crew from the Australia Zoo in Queensland will attempt to remove the seven-foot-long creature from Machado Lake.
Quantas Airways has agreed to fly a crew and their gear to Los Angeles in early July, and city Parks and Recreation Department workers are keeping a log to try to establish Reggie's cruising habits in advance of the visit, Hahn told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
A seven-foot-long alligator-like creature, believed to be Reggie, suddenly appeared in the park's murky waters on April 30. A newspaper photographer snapped him last week, and L.A. workers have erected barricades around the lake to prevent potential dinners from wandering too close to the shore.
In 2005, Reggie's owners dumped the beast in the murky lagoon because he outgrew their tank. He quickly became one of the biggest attractions in Harbor City, the narrow strip of the City of Los Angeles that links San Pedro with the rest of the municipality.
Professional gator hunters from Louisiana and Florida tried and failed to lasso the reptile, and left California in a cloud of insults and denials. Reggie was not seen for nearly two years, prompting some speculation that he had died in the fetid water.
Indeed, some observers believe the creature spotted last month may be a different animal, the Press-Telegram reported.
"I don't know how we'll ever know," the councilwoman said. But she also said city parks workers think they recognize the 2007 critter as the same gator from 2005.
Irwin died in an accident last year, when a sting ray's poisonous barb pierced his heart.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
