Oh sure, a baby alligator sounds like the perfect pet, doesn’t it? So cute, cuddly, huggable, a little taste of the prehistoric right in your own modern home. Well, baby alligators grow up into adult alligators, which have been known to scare the hell out of, and occasionally eat, the average human, and what once seemed like the world’s coolest Christmas present gradually becomes a fanged nightmare.
Not to worry! There’s a giant lake right over there!
At least, that seems to be the logic of a small subset of the buyer’s-remorse-beset crocophile. Since the 1960s, when sightings really started heating up, several small and large alligator-like creatures have been reported in Lake Washington and Green Lake, two of the most popular outdoor locales of the city. And in practically every case, the Fish and Wildlife Department has written them off as dumped former pets, the demands of a growing carnivorous amphibian too much for even the most well-intentioned pet owner.
Most of the suspects are caimans, a smallish alligator-like fellow native to Central and South America. Being such a tropical sort, the caiman tends not to last more than twenty minutes or so in the cool waters of the Lakes, although a two-and-a-half footer was captured off Kirkland in 1986. But really, two-and-a-half feet? Big deal. The question remains, then: so what are those giant alligators? They’re obviously not caimans.
True enough. Native peoples have numerous legends of horned serpents lurking in the dark, frigid waters of Lake Washington (perhaps a cousin to cadborasaur?) known to thrash about and cause water-quakes and floods. In fact, recent construction projects along the lakeshore have revealed that a giant tidal wave struck the area where Bellevue now sits, hundreds of years ago. And when an 11-foot, 640-pound sturgeon was found in the Lake in 1987, people began to wonder just what else was down there.
Who knows, indeed? The Lake is certainly large enough and deep enough to harbor all manner of mysteries. And while it is tempting to write off all the creepy swimmers out there as abandoned gators, that doesn’t quite match up with what has already been seen.
In 1947, off Madrona, an estimated 100-foot long, “crinkly-backed” monster was sighted numerous times over the course of several weeks before “escaping” out to open sea, according to several witnesses. Creatively, the monster was nicknamed “Madrona” and one of it’s most vociferous believers was Seattle clam-huckster Ivar_Haglund.
Construction along the shores of the Lake have revealed skeletal remains of some large prehistoric aquatic creatures, and scores of smaller beasties. Remains of tribal villages that once ringed the lake have been found, and amongst the ruins of one of these, tiny bipedal skeletons have been found, also having fish tails. Huge eel-like swimmers have been reported for decades, although with decreasing frequency.
Sightings in February 2005 off Medina and Mercer Island got the respective law enforcement agencies there into a reptile state of mind, and had local boaters looking twice at every ripple and splash. And again in November 2008, the same two communities again reported mega-gators swimming around in Cozy Cove and Fairweather Bay.
And the sightings haven’t confined themselves to the large body of water; even modest Green Lake, north of downtown, has had its share of alligator sightings.
Almost everywhere you turn around here, there’s water somewhere. Plenty of places for you to get rid of that unwanted gator, right? But just remember, when you’re dropping Chompy over the side of your boat: who knows what you’re getting him into?