Jul 17, 2008 1:41 pm US/Central
Alligator Caught In Lake In Plainfield
Capture Follows Standoff That Lasts For Days
PLAINFIELD, Ill. (STNG) ―
The waiting game is over. An American alligator that had been living in Plainfield's Lake Renwick has been caught.
After days of watching and baiting with chicken legs officials say they have caught the 4-foot gator vacationing at the heron rookery in Lake Renwick.
The alligator was in the custody of the Chicago Herpetological Society.
Early Thursday morning, the alligator wandered into one of the traps set by Glen Buckner, a wildlife ecologist for the Will County Forest Preserve.
Buckner said the gator was lurking near the traps when he checked them about 4 a.m. He put all his raw chicken bait in one trap, and when he returned about 8:30 a.m. the gator was in the cage.
Visitors at the Lake Renwick Heron Rookery Nature Preserve first noticed the alligator Saturday morning, sunning itself on a log near the nesting birds.
The alligator eluded the traps for several days. "It's not really brain surgery. You just have to be patient to catch them," Buckner said.
The alligator was docile, lying nearly limp in its captors' arms.
"He's such a pet. He's not even trying to fight me," said Bob, a member of the Chicago Herpetological Society who declined to give his last name.
The alligator will be quarantined for several months and rehabilitated to survive in the wild, then eventually released into its natural habitat or a wildlife park in its native southeastern United States.
Officials suspect the alligator was placed in the lake by someone who had kept it as a pet.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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