Los Angeles Urban Gator Finally Nabbed by Gator Wranglers

On August 12, visitors to Machado Lake, a city lake in southern Los Angeles, spotted a rare and threatening sight—a huge alligator in the water of the lake. The alligator, quickly named "Reggie" became a local phenomenon as he repeatedly avoided capture by a parade of people trying to catch him. Gator wranglers traveled from thousands of miles away, and crowds of visitors to the park threw tortillas, jelly donuts, and raw chicken into the waters of the 53-acre lake to try to get Reggie’s attention. But Reggie repeatedly outsmarted his pursuers, even Jay Young, who showed up in full Crocodile Dundee garb last month to take on the gator in style. Despite his outback hat, alligator tooth necklace, and leather pants, Young’s attempt was unsuccessful.

A former Los Angeles police officer was arrested shortly after Reggie’s appearance in the lake, and charged with allegedly dumping the alligator there when it became too big and too dangerous to keep as a pet. Another man, who allegedly gave Reggie to the former police officer, was also arrested. Since that time the city has made numerous attempts to find and capture the alligator to keep people from being attacked. According to Ron Berkowitz, director of the Los Angeles Parks Department, the efforts to catch Reggie had cost the city over $50,000, including overtime for having a park ranger and lifeguard on duty around the clock.

The city had paid Young $1,600 for his first attempt to catch Reggie, even though he was unsuccessful. But Young, 47, decided he wasn’t going to let an alligator get the best of him, so he decided to try again, this time donating his services for free. With the assistance of a crew of handlers from Colorado that included his brother Noah, Young began searching early Tuesday morning until he finally spotted the 180-pound reptile resting on a slope of land near the shore of the lake. Noah calmly walked up the alligator and quickly slipped a rope around his neck. That was the easy part. When the crew approached the gator and tried to subdue it, Reggie began thrashing about violently. So Young had to hold the gator’s mouth shut while the crew taped it shut and wrapped him in a blanket. "He put up a good fight," said Young. "We're so excited right now." The crew transported Reggie to the Los Angeles Zoo, where he can live out his life without scaring park visitors.

Last Thursday, a smaller alligator named "Little Reggie" was caught in a Harbor City flood control channel about a mile from Machado Lake. That gator, only about 3 feet long, was also taken to the Los Angeles Zoo.