THE ARGUS (Fremont, California) 10 July 08 Search for caiman in Fremont suspended (Ben Aguirre Jr.)
Fremont: Sgt. John Dauzat has a fishing pole and he's ready to hook into the catch of a lifetime.
But unless someone again reports seeing his target — a 3-foot-long caiman spotted this week at the Fremont Park Golf Center — he won't get a chance to reel it in.
A day after announcing that he'd likely use a fishing pole and half a chicken breast to catch the reptile, Dauzat, who heads the Tri-City Animal Control, called off all efforts Thursday amid hoards of onlookers and a reported third sighting of a caiman at a different body of water earlier in the week.
"I don't even know if it's in the pond anymore," the sergeant said Thursday afternoon.
Two people at the golf course reported seeing a reptile in the pond near the third green earlier this week, prompting animal control personnel to get involved.
But after Dauzat spent about 10 minutes surveying the water again early Thursday, he learned of an additional sighting that happened days before the one at the golf course.
Details of that sighting remained scant Thursday, but park rangers apparently were alerted to a caiman that was seen at Stivers Lagoon at the south end of Central Park on Sunday, Dauzat said.
That news, the sergeant said, has led him to believe that the apparently abandoned reptile could be anywhere because it could have traveled unnoticed through a series of creeks and nearby drainage ditches.
"It's possible it could have crawled away," he said.
Dauzat trekked out to the course Thursday before it opened, hoping to confirm the sightings.
But with lots of onlookers, the majority of whom were from television media, Dauzat said if the reptile were in the water, it could have been too scared to surface.
"I was out there for 10 or 11 minutes today, but there were too many people around, and a helicopter in the air," he said. "It's like fishing with people swimming in the water.
"If I saw all of that, I wouldn't come out, either."
Dauzat said he would remain on alert and in contact with the golf course's general manager, but would not return to the course unless there is another sighting.
"We're not going out there again unless someone reports seeing it," he said.
Search for caiman in Fremont suspended