DAILY BREEZE (Torrance, California) 27 March 06 Reggie: Part II is expected to open at lake in April - The original Alligator Tale had quite a cast of characters and the sequel is shaping up rather nicely. (Donna Littlejohn)
Gator Watch
Harbor City's elusive alligator hasn't been seen since October, when a reptile's normal winter hibernating season begins. The saga continues...
Day 227
Steve Irwin
Janice Hahn
T-Bone
Jay Young
Tim Wiliams
The Crocodile Hunter visited Machado Lake in November, and said on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" Jan. 13 that he would be back to try to catch Reggie this spring.
The Los Angeles councilwoman was a regular at Machado Lake and kept careful tabs on the gator and his foiled captors.
The New Orleans man rolled into Harbor City promising to capture Reggie, but was nabbed by sheriff's deputies for outstanding warrants.
The Colorado man was one of the first on the scene at Machado Lake, where he brought his expertise from the gator ranch where his family keeps 400 alligators.
The Florida man, known as the "Dean of Alligator Wrestling," was part of Gatorland's crew of wranglers. He said Reggie should be out of hibernation soon.
REGGIE
The star of the show was dumped in Harbor City's Machado Lake last summer by two San Pedro men after the illegal pet became too hard to handle.
Rise and shine.
It's spring. The sun is shining and temperatures are climbing. The days are growing longer.
Can Reggie's reawakening be far behind?
Harbor City's elusive alligator hasn't been seen since October, when a reptile's normal winter hibernating season begins.
But Russ Smith, reptile curator for the Los Angeles Zoo, says the South Bay's favorite watery beast should be stirring back to life any time now in Machado Lake, where he's eluded capture since August after he was allegedly released illegally over the summer by his owners.
"It's going to be soon," Smith said of the alligator's expected resurfacing. "I still think March would be a good possibility, but I imagine the (recent) cold weather probably pushed things back a little bit. It will probably be April now."
Alligators in Florida are already out, said Tim Williams of Florida's Gatorland.
"(Reggie) is probably basking already," Williams said. "Our animals are already basking and courting and bellowing and fighting."
There have been no reported sightings of Reggie yet, however.
During winter months, the animals burrow down for a long, dormant period of inactivity. They typically don't eat and are seldom seen during that time.
But come spring, their internal alarm clocks go off, triggered by two things -- warmer temperatures and lengthening days.
The reptiles typically awaken extremely hungry and begin actively feeding. It's also their breeding season, adding to the sudden burst of activity. (There is no evidence there are any other alligators in the 53-acre lake in Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park. It also has never been determined whether Reggie is a male or a female.)
But if Reggie is a male, Williams said, "There's a very good chance you may hear him bellow. It may not be real loud, but in the mornings and evenings it sounds like someone cranking up a motorcycle. They lift their head and tail and bellow maybe three to six times and then stop."
It's expected that the alligator's movements will be visible in these early months of spring.
"He'll be feeding and actively basking in the sun," Smith said. "You can expect that the first activities will be diurnal, in the daytime, so he should be fairly noticeable.
"He'll be hungry, so the frogs, fish and ducks better start watching out."
Could the animal have died over the winter?
Not likely, Smith said, unless he was already sick when he was originally released.
"My bet is we'll see him," Smith said.
"They're real hardy animals and the odds of that animal dying are very slim," Williams said.
There also is a chance he may have moved out into one of the storm drains connected to the lake, but that's unlikely, Williams said.
So, what's next?
Plans are already in place to try again to catch Reggie and transport him to the L.A. Zoo, at least for a temporary stay.
An 8-by-3-foot metal trap was made for the city and is ready to be placed out at the lake.
Baited with chicken, the trap would snap shut as soon as Reggie ventured inside.
Juan Benitez, maintenance supervisor for Recreation and Parks, said they're waiting for the go-ahead to put the trap out at the lake.
"We wouldn't want to put it out without having an expert tell us what to do with it," Benitez said. "And since the council office is talking with Steve Irwin, we wouldn't want to cross any lines."
Los Angeles Zoo officials would be qualified and available to monitor the trap, but City Councilwoman Janice Hahn instead has tentatively arranged for an April visit by television's Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, who surveyed the lake and met with Hahn in November with a promise to return. No date has been set up with Irwin's office, however.
Hahn said Irwin requested that no capture efforts be attempted that might scare the alligator before he can return.
"They've got a real strategy and one of the conditions in the interim is that we don't do anything that might in any way scare Reggie," Hahn said.
Williams said, however, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to leave the trap out as a passive way to catch the gator.
"I'd have left a trap out there all (winter)," Williams said. "I think when this first happened, it was a great opportunity for folks to capture some limelight. But it's an alligator and what's the priority? If the real priority is capturing this animal and getting him out of there so people don't feel threatened, then you have to stop and do what you need to do."
Irwin promised in November that he'd return in April with some of his own traps to try to catch Reggie. The popular Australia-based star of Animal Planet reiterated that pledge on the Jan. 13 "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" that he'd be back to try to catch L.A.'s gator -- and perhaps bring him on the show for a special appearance if he's successful.
Reggie was first spotted last summer in the lake by park workers. Over the next few months, the city brought in a series of professional "gator wranglers," including Williams, who failed to catch the reptile.
"We wanted to catch him," Williams said, adding it can take months to snag a wary alligator. "It's not an easy thing and he (Reggie) did a good job. Our hats are off to this fellow. We gave it a good effort."
No attempts to find Reggie have been made since October.
During the height of the activity, throngs of sightseers showed up at the park, as did the media, probably adding to the animal's natural wariness.
"If this had happened in almost any other state it wouldn't be that big of a deal, to be perfectly honest," Smith said of the Reggie phenomenon. "But alligators are not natural out here, although they can survive in Southern California."
T-shirts and other Reggie-themed merchandise began to be hawked on the Internet and out at the park. Songs were sung, a blog was launched and books were written in mock tribute. Los Angeles Harbor College made Reggie the school's co-mascot.
"Everybody's rooting for the alligator," Smith said. "It's kind of like our own Loch Ness monster. People say, 'Hey, I just might be able to see that alligator that's been outsmarting all these experts.' "
Smith is hoping that the alligator's long winter snooze will make him forget about all his would-be captors and the danger lurking above the water.
"Not being an alligator, I don't know how long their memory is," Smith said. "I assume that he'll (still) be a little wary, but there isn't the circus out there right now and he's going to be very hungry. So, I think the traps are probably the best bet to actually catch him."
But Williams thinks Reggie instinctively will realize the waiting danger.
"They're not stupid," Williams said. "They remember things. He knows what people are about and he'll recognize that. But he's going to be hungry."
Reggie: Part II is expected to open at lake in April