FLINT JOURNAL (Michigan) 30 July 05 Alligator gone but not forgotten - Capture of 'Osama bin Gator' in Lobdell Lake steeped in lore (Sally York)
Argentine TWP. : "Osama bin Gator" was a wild rumor that turned out to be true. Now, it has nearly everybody in this tiny community talking.
Clerk Joe Graves figured it was a prank.
Waitress Susan Mason wasn't sure, but she was scared enough to stop her routine of dipping her tired feet into Lobdell Lake at the end of a work shift.
Marcia Crawford of Byron believed it from the start, and on Thursday she was proved right: There really was an alligator in Lobdell Lake.
Given the Osama moniker by locals, the 31/2-foot critter was captured while soaking up late afternoon rays in wetlands near the lake's public access.
Soon bin Gator will be transported to Florida and released into his natural swampy environment.
"You mean we're not going to be able to cook it?" moaned Luis Fernandes, owner of The Pier restaurant on Lobdell.
Police Officer Ryan Wilburn called the gator "a 31/2-foot ball of terror," but he was only joking.
"We're so happy we didn't have to destroy him," said Wilburn, who got to view bin Gator up close after workers from Wildlife Management of Flint hauled him into the station. "He was kind of cute."
How the gator wound up in a Michigan lake remains a mystery, though many speculate he was a pet who got dumped into Lobdell by a fickle owner.
"I think whoever did it needs to be punished," Graves said. "They put people at risk."
Rumors about a gator in the lake reached the police department two weeks ago, but no one lodged a formal complaint so officers didn't take it seriously at first.
"We figured it was just talk," said Lt. Bruce Coverdill. But to be safe, the department notified the Genesee County Marine Patrol, Department of Natural Resources and Wildlife Management.
Skepticism turned into reluctant belief a few days ago when Chief Terry VanKeuren found a strange-looking track in the sand near the public access.
He compared a drawing of a gator track from the Internet to a photo of the track he'd seen. They matched exactly.
"Curiosity gets you started, but then you get evidence - you've got to catch it," Wilburn said.
Concerned for the safety of swimmers and boaters, officers and personnel from the DNR and Wildlife Management intensified the hunt. Officers swept the lake for the gator on their own time.
But it was Mike Lowe and his son, Rob, of Wildlife Management who finally discovered bin Gator hanging out at the public access, where boaters often dump minnows and other bait for a virtual gator buffet.
"It was an easy hunting ground for him," Lowe said.
Currently the critter is in the care of a wildlife rehabilitator in Saginaw, who will eventually take him - along with other gators that have been captured or found - to Florida, Lowe said.
Bin Gator's gone, but the fun continues. On Friday, Crawford brought a souvenir gator head to The Pier and cheerfully announced she'd found a second one.
Folks enjoyed reminiscing about other bizarre sightings in the area.
John Wanek of Flushing, a retired science teacher, said when he was a child word spread about a 6-foot catfish in the lake. And in the mid-'70s, Big Foot was sighted in Byron.
Copycat rumors are surfacing. Officer Sharon Cowell took a call on Friday from someone who claimed there was an alligator in Lake Ponemah in Fenton Township.
One thing's for sure - it wasn't bin Gator.
"He was evicted out of Lobdell Lake," Coverdill said.
Alligator gone but not forgotten