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DAILY REPORTER-HERALD (Loveland, Colorado) 14 July 07 Pond monster may be a gator - City parks officials not skeptical anymore (Pamela Dickman)
John Peck’s friends call him the mini-crocodile hunter because he is always catching snakes and turtles at Jayhawker Ponds in Loveland.
But the 10-year-old didn’t even try to catch the creature he saw Wednesday night — a 5- to 7-foot-long reptile that Loveland parks officials are saying may be a caiman or an alligator.
Peck, his brother and a friend weren’t the first to see the reptile. A Loveland man came forward a month ago, but officials were skeptical then. This time, an animal control officer confirmed the sighting.
“We were fishing,” Peck said. “Something jumped out of the water. We thought it was gonna attack us.
“It tried to get on the dock. I was right next to where it jumped. I dropped my fishing pole, got on my scooter and took off to the Corner Store.”
There, the boys called police, who responded and alerted the Larimer Humane Society. An animal control officer confirmed the sighting, said Larry Callihan, Loveland’s parks manager.
The “unusual creature” is believed to be a caiman or an alligator that is 5 to 7 feet long and about 18 inches around.
And officials believe it poses enough of a danger that they closed Jayhawker Ponds, a 30-acre natural area southeast of First Street and Taft Avenue.
The area will not reopen until authorities capture the reptile, Callihan said.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife is working with city officials and animal control officers on a plan to wrangle the beast out of the water, likely after dark sometime in the next three days.
“(We’ll use) an electroshocking boat to electrify the water and make it pop up,” said Aimee Ryel, state wildlife officer.
From there, officials haven’t said exactly how they will capture the reptile, but it likely won’t be Crocodile Hunter style.
Methods to catch an alligator or caiman depend on the size of the area and the depth of the water; the danger level depends on how hungry he is, said Sherri Stokley, whose parents own Colorado Gators, a reptile sanctuary in Alamosa.
She was surprised to hear of the sighting in Loveland.
“It’s unheard of,” she said. “Probably somebody had it as a pet and let it go.”
That is what Callihan believes happened sometime after winter, because a reptile would not have survived the cold.
“We can rule out global warming,” Callihan said.
“I don’t think there’s a migration from south to north. More than likely, it was an irresponsible pet owner. Either the pet outgrew the pen or they got tired of taking care of it.”
The first publicly reported sighting was in mid-June when 21-year-old Bryan Cox said he saw a large caiman in the pond.
Wildlife officials did not believe him, and the skeptical public came forward claiming it was a large tiger muskie fish.
Now it looks like Cox was right.
“I fish for tiger muskies,” he said Friday.
“I would have known if it was a fish. It was a reptile. I think it’s kind of cool they believe me now. I knew what I saw.”
Resident William Shaft saw the crocodilian poke its snout through the water a week
ago.
Nobody believed him, either.
“I spoke to like two friends, then I just shut my mouth,” he said Friday.
“They asked, ‘How much have you had to drink?’”
He was one of several people — and television crews — who stopped by the ponds and watched the water from the nearby sidewalk, hoping to see something emerge Friday.
Another watcher, James Noland, added, “It’s a lot closer than stalking for the Loch Ness.”
But as of Friday afternoon, just as elusive.
Pond monster may be a gator

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Denver, Colorado) 16 July 07 Clock ticking on the rescue of suspected caiman in pond (Rosa Ramirez)
An elusive gator-like creature that forced the closure of a Loveland pond last week will need to be rescued before the water gets too chilly, a reptile expert says.
Jayhawker Ponds and the surrounding 30-acre recreation area were shut down last week until the creature, thought to be a caiman, is caught.
Loveland police Sgt. Rae Bontz said the area is fenced to keep people from going in and the creature from leaving.
"As long as people stay away from there, there's no problem," Bontz said Sunday.
Jay Young, with Colorado Gators, said that unlike alligators, a caiman would not survive in cold water.
"It can die in water that's below 60 degrees," he said. "The water is going to get below 60 degrees in late September or late October in Colorado."
Bontz said the police department got a call last week that three boys who were fishing at Jayhawker Ponds "saw an alligator-looking thing."
"We thought it was gonna attack us," 10-year-old John Peck told The Associated Press. "We reeled in our poles and got on our scooters and got out of there as fast as we could."
Animal control officers were dispatched that same day and one got a glimpse of the creature, Bontz said.
Young said it's likely a pet caiman that was dumped because its owner could no longer keep it.
"Caimans don't just walk to lakes in Colorado," Young said. "They are from South America. That's a long way to swim."
He said most people purchase caimans when they're small, thinking they can handle them. But then they find out that the reptile's water needs to be cleaned daily and kept warm.
Not to mention that caimans can grow to be about 60 pounds and 7 feet in length, Young said.
"They're not aggressive," he said. "It would not look at a person, or even a toddler, as food. It would likely survive on fish and small birds."
But it could maim someone trying to grab it, Young added.
"They are very dangerous and run much faster than alligators. We have several 6-foot caimans. We don't mess with them, unless we have to, or you could end up losing several fingers."
Clock ticking on the rescue of suspected caiman in pond