4-Foot-Long Alligator Found Swimming In Lake Michigan

WAUKEGAN, IL — A 4-foot alligator was safely rescued after it was discovered swimming in Lake Michigan Monday morning near Waukegan harbor, city officials announced. After receiving a 911 call and video proof, Waukegan police animal control and staff at nearby Larsen Marine Service managed to wrangle the American gator. Staff at the marine facility said a kayaker encountered the gator slowly swimming through the chilly water with its mouth bound shut with rubber bands.

"It's not every day someone reports an alligator in Lake Michigan and the report is true," the city said in a social media post. The alligator was taken to Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, where it was being held as evidence pending an probe by state wildlife investigators in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Rob Carmichael, the curator of the city-operated center, told Patch the female alligator appeared to be about three to five years old and could have already been in the water for more than a week before she was found. He said she was unlikely to have survived more than a couple more weeks out in the lake with her mouth rubber-banded shut (a legal requirement for any of the roughly one dozen legal alligator owners who want to take their gator out in public.)

Although some alligators can go up to a year without food, Carmichael said the rescued reptile had become dehydrated and would have succumbed to the water as it approached freezing.

The kayaker told the Lake County News-Sun he was out fishing for salmon when he noticed something unusual floating in the water around 9:30 a.m. Expecting to find a dead salmon, he found a live gator instead.

After calling police and recording some video of the animal in the water, the kayaker managed to snag the gator with fishing equipment and guide it to shore, according to Carmichael.

Waukegan's public relations director told the News-Sun the city would conduct an investigation into whether the animal was abandoned, which could potentially lead to charges of animal cruelty. City officials found themselves caught off guard to field 911 call about a loose alligator in the lake, and the spokesperson suggested dispatchers were not immediately convinced.

"These creatures are not indigenous. You can imagine the skepticism that came with it," he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Officials with the Illinois and Wisconsin departments of natural resources are also conducting an investigation and seeking to identify whose alligator it was, whether she was legally owned and whether she may have escaped rather than being abandoned. So far, no one has come forward and identified themselves as her rightful proprietor.

Scott Ballard, a herpetologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said about 12 unlicensed crocodilians are recovered by state wildlife authorities. He said state law requires anyone seeking to legally own an alligator to prove it will serve an educational purpose.

"They're not allowed as pets," Ballard said.

The curator of the Waukegan 'gator's current home, Lake Forest's Wildlife Discovery Center, said if a documented owner does not emerge the alligator now being kept as evidence in a wildlife police investigation will likely stay permanently at the Elawa Farm-based nature center.

Further tests are needed to make sure she is not suffering from health complications because alligators are notoriously good at hiding any illness, Carmichael said. But if she recovers, she is likely to spend the winter in heated pools before potentially heading outdoors with the center's three other gators in the spring.

"We work with the state and county in quite a few situations," said Carmichael. "This is not the first time and it will definitely will not be the last time, but it's certainly one of the most strange rescues we've done."

Chicago kayaker David Castaneda was fishing for salmon in Lake Michigan when he found an unexpected animal instead — a 4-foot-long caiman. https://t.co/2s0YdI8kRo pic.twitter.com/JMBhrKOlBM
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) October 8, 2018