What the heck is going on back East??

[pair8head]

Story #1

CHICAGO -- The next time you feel like dipping your toes in the Chicago River - beware.

A second alligator has been spotted - but not yet captured - in the waterway that winds through downtown Chicago.

Children, parents and dog walkers gathered Monday to catch a peek of the 3-foot-long reptile in the river on the city's North Side.

A Chicago Herpetological Society volunteer captured a 2 1/2-foot alligator in the river earlier this month. The society hopes to catch the latest alligator soon because it will not be able to survive the harsh Chicago winter.

City animal control experts believe both alligators are abandoned pets.

Eight-year-old gator-spotter Caleb Berry said Monday he wasn't afraid of the gray-and-gold scaled alligator because it is "a baby."


Story #2

BROCKTON, Mass. -- A three-foot alligator, sporting a collar around its neck, has been found aimlessly strolling a Massachusetts city. Firefighter Scott Hurst spotted the out-of-place tan reptile Sunday as it quietly crossed a street in Brockton, 25 miles south of Boston.

Hurst said he lifted the gator by its collar and tail and used a bungee cord to tie it up in the back of his pickup truck.

Animal control supervisor Tom DeChellis told The Enterprise of Brockton that he assumes the alligator is a pet because of its collar, but he doesn't expect anyone to claim it.

DeChellis said animal control has picked up alligators in the city before, typically when left behind by people moving out of houses or apartments.

Authorities are looking to place the alligator with a wildlife specialist.

Story #3

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- A 79-year-old Sheboygan woman who couldn't find any help when a rattlesnake showed up on her patio said it was no big deal taking matters into her own hands. Margaret Street said she used an ice chopper to kill the snake with three cuts behind the head.

She made some calls hoping to find someone who could help her. She said when that failed she killed the snake because she was afraid it could hurt someone at a nearby elementary school.

Dale Katsma, with the state Department of Natural Resources, said the massasauga rattlesnake is endangered in Wisconsin, but photos suggest this was a prairie rattlesnake, which isn't endangered or native to the area.

He told The Sheboygan Press the snake may have been aboard a train bringing materials to a local salvage yard.

[ph4ever]

[tikitatas]

Well, if not THE END, maybe someone who should watch where they're taking their reptiles and amphibians!

[bravedave]

Alligator captured in Queens not alone: THREE reptiles nabbed in 24-hour span
NYDailyNews:

The headline-grabbing alligator captured in Queens wasn't the only cold-blooded critter snatched off the city's streets over the weekend.
The young male alligator - not yet named - got a little R&R Monday at a Brooklyn animal shelter, where he was joined by two other reptiles, all nabbed within 24 hours.
The first was a lizard known as an Argentine tegu; the other, "a large - very large - iguana," said Michael Pastore, the field operations director of Animal Care & Control of New York City.
Cops from the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit collared the gator cowering under a Datsun [?!?!?!] on Newtown Ave. and 29th St. in Astoria about 3 p.m. Sunday.
Police officials initially said it was a crocodile, but Pastore confirmed it is a basic American alligator, about 14 inches long and less than a year old.

[SkoolGrl<3]

Perhaps we need an alligator in Critterville Cove... AN alligator. Sounds like the mainland has a whole bunch of unwanted gators they'd like to ship off to the Cove, or perhaps former owners release them with a set of swimming/walking instructions to the Cove. Grog runner backup?

[TropicalTroubador]

This really isn't anything new. There have been apocryphal tales of alligators in the sewers under Manhattan for decades.

[bravedave]

Perhaps we need an alligator in Critterville Cove... AN alligator. Sounds like the mainland has a whole bunch of unwanted gators they'd like to ship off to the Cove, or perhaps former owners release them with a set of swimming/walking instructions to the Cove. Grog runner backup?

Will they be issued....


...[wait for it]...



... green cards?

[ragtopW]

if I find a 3 foot Gator.. the only calls I make are to some BNers..
I own a large fryer.......
Cookout anyone????

[JollyMon66]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

[Bicycle Bill]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

Not necessarily. Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles, just like turtles. Turtles manage to survive Upper Midwest winters by burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and hibernating. Gators could probably do the same.
Just what you wanted to hear, eh?

-"BB"-

[ph4ever]

if I find a 3 foot Gator.. the only calls I make are to some BNers..
I own a large fryer.......
Cookout anyone????

I'm so there!!! Need anyone to help fry that sucker?

[JollyMon66]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

Not necessarily. Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles, just like turtles. Turtles manage to survive Upper Midwest winters by burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and hibernating. Gators could probably do the same.
Just what you wanted to hear, eh?

-"BB"-

As remote a possiblity as it sounds I have no problems finding a gator in my yard...Mr. Gator...meet Mr. Remington 30-06 Gamemaster.

[ph4ever]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

Not necessarily. Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles, just like turtles. Turtles manage to survive Upper Midwest winters by burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and hibernating. Gators could probably do the same.
Just what you wanted to hear, eh?

-"BB"-

As remote a possiblity as it sounds I have no problems finding a gator in my yard...Mr. Gator...meet Mr. Remington 30-06 Gamemaster.

Interesting fact I learned while watching that new TV show Swamp People. According to them (and these people have been hunting gators for multi generations) the only place you can shoot a gator and kill it is a quarter sized spot just behind their head.

Watching that show also makes me hungry for cajun food.

[ragtopW]

if I find a 3 foot Gator.. the only calls I make are to some BNers..
I own a large fryer.......
Cookout anyone????

I'm so there!!! Need anyone to help fry that sucker?

Hello!!! who do you think is first called??

[ragtopW]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

Not necessarily. Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles, just like turtles. Turtles manage to survive Upper Midwest winters by burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and hibernating. Gators could probably do the same.
Just what you wanted to hear, eh?

-"BB"-

As remote a possiblity as it sounds I have no problems finding a gator in my yard...Mr. Gator...meet Mr. Remington 30-06 Gamemaster.

anything less than 5 foot?? just walk up quarter to it..
heavy duty knife right between the eyes..

[HurricaneSeason]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

Not necessarily. Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles, just like turtles. Turtles manage to survive Upper Midwest winters by burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and hibernating. Gators could probably do the same.
Just what you wanted to hear, eh?

-"BB"-

Actually, yes, a Chicago or New England winter would take care of them or a Midwestern state like Iowa or Kansas. Alligators can take cold snaps but not a long duration. The farthest north they can live is North Carolina.

[bravedave]

A Chicago and New England winter will take care of those gators...

Not necessarily. Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles, just like turtles. Turtles manage to survive Upper Midwest winters by burrowing into the mud at the bottom of the pond and hibernating. Gators could probably do the same.
Just what you wanted to hear, eh?

-"BB"-

Actually, yes, a Chicago or New England winter would take care of them or a Midwestern state like Iowa or Kansas. Alligators can take cold snaps but not a long duration. The farthest north they can live is North Carolina.

I know a lot of people who feel the same way.

[HurricaneSeason]

Ah ha ha. Even that is too far north!