THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, British Columbia) 01 May 07 Hunt called off for campus alligator - Mystery leaves question of mistake, hoax or prehistoric lizard (Glenda Luymes)
Langley: Was it a hoax or a prehistoric lizard on the brink of extinction? Whatever the case, a small alligator reported to be loose in a ravine at Trinity Western University has mysteriously vanished.
"It's become a wild goose chase," said Paul Springate, the animal shelter curator who was tracking the renegade reptile.
"I don't want to call it a hoax, so maybe the better term is mistake. Some security guards saw splashing in the water, but we think it may have just been beavers." And the belly and claw marks found last week imprinted in the muddy embankment? "Muskrats," said Springate. "Well, I hope it was muskrats."
The crocodilian hunter said if there actually was an alligator in the ravine, it is now likely dead. Traps set Wednesday containing salmon and pork were not touched, and there were no further sightings in a week of slogging and splashing through the ravine.
"The best-case scenario is that this was a mistake and that the alligator never existed in the first place," said Springate, who runs White Rock's Reptile Refuge, a non-profit society that cares for unwanted and abused reptiles and other exotic pets.
But Barrie Alden, the former Lower Mainland director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation, said he thinks the alligator may be a creature he's been tracking since the 1970s.
"There've been repeated sightings of this type of animal at almost all of the deep B.C. lakes," said the ardent amateur cryptozoologist.
"This is still in the realm of the sasquatch, but the ancient stories and my research confirm it -- these reptiles, small alligators or large salamanders, keep appearing. . . . Mark my words, one of these days, someone's going to discover a new species and it will explain everything."
Hunt called off for campus alligator