Attached are "this week"'english-language with photo/video news items on this subject ... you have to go to the originating URL for the pics though.
And of course, we're waiting on photos of the crocs that's being stalked outside of Los Angeles ...
Chris: How far back in the archives are we supposed to go?
respects ... Wes
NEWS TRIBUNE (Tacoma, Washington) 20 August 05 Freedom ends for escaped caiman (Paul Sand)
Sketch’s 24 hours of fame are over. The 4-foot-long female caiman – a kind of miniature alligator-looking reptile – eluded officials from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
She had hidden out since Wednesday afternoon in a stormwater retention pond behind a new housing development south of Puyallup.
But she was caught Thursday after county and state officials spent hours sweeping the waist-deep, 100-foot-long pond with netting and, eventually, a backpack electric fish shocker.
About a dozen residents and even some construction workers building a nearby house gathered in the 16500 block of 129th Avenue Court East to monitor the hunt. They stood around the green, 6-foot-tall chain-link fence that ringed the pond and silently watched the half dozen men wade through the water.
The team finally captured the animal shortly before 5 p.m. after they subdued her with the shocker.
“I’ve never seen anything as crazy as this,” said Lorraine Smith, as she and her husband, Larry Herlinger, watched the capture. “We knew one of them was going to get out.”
Smith was referring to Sketch and her sister, Snatch.
Their owner, a 29-year-old man who did not want his name used in this story, lives about a block from the pond. He said he bought Sketch and Snatch more than seven years ago at a pet store in Milton.
Sketch escaped Sunday afternoon when the man cleaned the reptiles’ 8-by-10-foot pen in his yard, which boasts a 220-gallon pond.
“I pretty much set her free without realizing it,” he said.
Umberto Mancini spotted Sketch about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Mancini, 64, was planting a Japanese maple tree in his backyard that overlooks the pond. Rabbits and ducks are plentiful in his backyard and near the pond, but the 4-foot reptile caught his eye.
“I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute. Let’s add this one to the list’ of animals,” Mancini said.
He called 911, and officials began to scour the water, looking for Sketch. Thursday, after they had Sketch secured in an animal control vehicle, they collected Snatch from the man.
He does not have permits to own the animals in Pierce County, but officials haven’t cited him for the incident, said Sgt. Ted Jackson of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The case is under investigation and has been turned over to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, he said.
The two reptiles spent Thursday night at the Humane Society in Tacoma, said Brian Boman, an animal control official in the sheriff’s department. Today, an official from the Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society is set to pick them up and likely will place them in an animal refuge or zoo, Boman said.
Jennifer Graff, who lives in the housing development, watched the search with her 6-year-old daughter, Leah, for a few hours with an amused look.
“I’d rather have this neighborhood’s claim to fame be some little guy inside a fence than something else,” she said.
Exotic pet rules: To protect native wildlife and habitat, Washington bans importing certain animals but leaves regulating exotic animals kept as pets to local jurisdictions.
Here are the rules for unincorporated Pierce County and some local cities:
Unincorporated Pierce County: Illegal to own a lion, tiger, bear, chimpanzee, gorilla, cougar, badger, wolf, coyote, fox, lynx or any other “vicious or venomous/poisonous wild animal.”
Residents can own other exotic animals, including alligators and caimans, if they obtain a permit from the Tacoma-Pierce County Humane Society.
City of Tacoma: Illegal, in residential zones, to own a lion, tiger, bear, chimpanzee, gorilla, cougar, badger, wolf, coyote, fox, lynx or any venomous reptile or any other dangerous animal or reptile.
Such animals can be kept in other zones with a permit.
Puyallup: Generally illegal to own a venomous or constricting snake capable of inflicting serious harm or death to people; chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys; bears; nondomesticated felines, including lions, tigers, cougars and bobcats; nondomesticated canines or their hybrids, including wolf and coyote hybrids; the order crocodilia, including alligators, crocodiles, caiman and gavials.
Residents who owned their pets before the law went into effect in 2000 can keep them if they register the animal with the city.
Lakewood: Illegal to own a venomous snake capable of inflicting serious harm or death to people; chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys; bears; nondomestic felines, including lions, tigers, cougars, bobcats and lynx; nondomesticated canines, including wolves, coyotes and their hybrids; the order crocodilia, including alligators, crocodiles, caiman and gavials; any other nondomesticated animal that has demonstrated that it is a threat to the public.
Gig Harbor: Unavailable.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5113602p-4655361c.html
DAILY NONPAREIL (Council Bluffs, Iowa) 19 August 05 C.L. alligator flourishing at Omaha zoo (Brien T. Boyce)
Omaha: The alligator that was captured twice in Carter Lake and was given to the Henry Doorly Zoo is still in quarantine, but officials say it's doing fine.
"He's doing great," said Jessi Krebs, a herpetologist and supervisor of reptiles and amphibians at the zoo.
The American Alligator was first sighted on the Memorial Day weekend. It was captured June 8, but disappeared the same day. It was recaptured July 9, and was turned over to the zoo.
Krebs said the alligator suffered wounds from the tape around its snout, had some fungal growth on its belly, and was very thin.
The snout wounds have almost healed, Krebs said, and the fungus is gone. As for the gator's appetite - "he's eating like a champ."
In the winter, an alligator's metabolism slows down, and can go months without eating. Krebs said an alligator can still slow down the burn on its fat reserves during the summer, and can go at least a month.
The Carter Lake gator was captured in time, Krebs said. The gator started using the fat reserves in its tail, which is one of the last reserves an alligator can use before it effectively starves to death.
As a result, the gator needs several more months in quarantine to gain sufficient weight to be put on display. The alligator will ultimately be put in with the 23 other American Alligators in the Bayou section of the Kingdoms Of The Night Exhibit.
Another alligator could be added to the Bayou exhibit in addition to the Carter Lake alligator. Krebs said the zoo is still holding the gator that was removed from an Avoca house earlier this month, and is waiting to find out whether it will stay or will be returned to its owner.
Many counties in Nebraska and Iowa have ordinances banning the ownership of dangerous animals. Krebs said that would certainly include an alligator, "considering they can get up to 14 feet long."
People don't think on a long-term basis when they purchase an alligator or other types of reptiles. "People believe they can take care of it," he said. "After the newness wears off, though, and usually after someone gets bit, then they want to get rid of the animal."
As a result, the zoo gets stuck with the animal, and doesn't always have space for it. While the zoo has space for alligators, it can't take other reptiles such as boa constrictors or pythons.
"We need to have space for animals that need conservation," he said.
Animals the zoo can't keep are put on a nationwide zoo surplus list, but many zoos across the United States have the same problem as the Henry Doorly Zoo.
"They're in the same boat in Detroit, St. Louis, and other zoos, where they have animals that they can't keep."
Sometimes, the only resort is to take the reptile to the local humane shelter, where it will probably be euthanized, Krebs said.
"That's such a waste to have to lose it," he said.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15064799&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555107&rfi=6
WJAR (Providence, Rhode Island) 18 August 05 Exotic Animals Found In Apartment Along With Drugs, Guns
Environmental Officers Remove Crocodiles, Alligators
Lynn, Mass.: When police raided an apartment in Massachusetts, they expected to find guns and drugs. Even three snapping pit bulls weren't a huge surprise.
But what the officers never expected to find in the Lynn apartment were a 3-foot-long Nile crocodile, two baby alligators and a snapping turtle.
State environmental police were called in to carefully remove the reptiles. The crocodile and the alligators are illegal to own in Massachusetts without a special permit. The turtle might also be illegal if it's found to be an endangered species.
Exotic animals aside, Lynn police said Wednesday's raid netted heroin, cocaine, a semiautomatic assault pistol, a shotgun and a handgun.
Ramiro Jorge, 20, faces 10 charges for possession of drugs and weapons. He was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.
http://www.turnto10.com/news/4869285/detail.html
WISH (Indianapolis, Indiana) 17 August 05 Greenwood Gator's Story Unfolds
It's been one week since animal control found a four-foot-long alligator in a Greenwood retention pond.
Many people have wondered; how did it end up there?
The gator's name is Akasha, she had been living in a ten by ten foot cage behind Cheryle Duguay's home. After seeing Akasha's picture in the morning paper last week, Duguay says she ran back to the cage to see if her gator was gone.
"My lock was missing and the only way you could get a pad lock off of there is to cut it. I don't know if somebody was playing a cruel joke, or being curious. Obviously they were being stupid," Duguay told News 8.
She says Akasha left the cage and began her trek out the back yard into a creek and finally to the retention pond about a quarter mile away.
"Obviously she made her way straight down to the creek. The creek runs right under the road and right to that pond," Duguay explained.
It took animal control hours to catch her, and didn't sit well with nearby residents. Duguay acknowledges that gators don't exactly make good pets and can be very dangerous.
When asked why does she do it? Duguay replied, "I love reptiles. I love the animals that everybody else is afraid of and mistreats."
But after this, she says she's all done with alligators, "I respect my community around me and how they feel and that the chance that this might happen again? I'm not going to take the chance that somebody might get hurt,"
"It's a little hard for me 'cause I know how much my mom loves these animals. And to see it taken from her? I don't know. It's kind hard for me," Duguay's daughter Jade explained.
Right now, Akasha's in the hands of an animal expert, who may use her for education around the state of Indiana. The owner has not been charged with any wrong-doing.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3730942&nav=0Ra7dPk6
Video link only
WNWO (Toledo, Ohio) 15 August 05 Gators Living With South Toledo Family
Toledo, Ohio: Police in South Toledo made a surprising discovery Monday. A family and children living with an army of reptiles including two alligators.
Experts say the baby American Alligators had the potential to grow to between seven and 12 feet long.
Police came to the house after getting an anonymous complaint. The children's mother told crews the reptiles belonged to her husband. She didn't want them.
"She said okay, take them. Just remove them. It's out of her hair. She's happy," explained Otto Rectenwald, Toledo Police Department.
In addition to the alligators, crews took three lizards and two snakes, including a python and a boa constrictor. Experts on scene at the 700 Block of Brighton Ave argued whether the gators were a potential danger to the block.
"You have to put that into perspective. These are baby American alligators. Baby American alligators are not dangerous animals," said Any Odum, Toledo Zoo.
Wildlife Unlimited animal handler Tom Griesinger is taking care of the Alligators. He says they are a growing danger.
"The longer they get the more dangerous they are and obviously the more harder they are to handle."
Police did not ticket the homeowner for keeping alligators illegally.
http://www.wnwo.com/Global/story.asp?S=3725083
