Two arrested for dumping alligator into L.A. lake

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two men have been arrested for
releasing a man-sized alligator into a Los Angeles lake, where
the big reptile has eluded increasingly frustrated authorities
for two weeks, police said on Wednesday.

Anthony Brewer, 36, was taken into custody on Tuesday night
at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of San Pedro, where
police said they found remnants of a make-shift alligator
habitat, two snapping turtles and drugs.

Evidence seized there led officers to the nearby home of
Todd Natow, 42, who was also arrested. A Los Angeles police
spokesman said officers discovered three alligators, four
piranhas, three desert tortoises, six tortoise eggs, one
rattlesnake, a scorpion and marijuana.

The spokesman said investigators believe that Brewer owned
the alligator and gave it to Natow, who put it into Lake
Machado in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles about
two months ago.

The reptile was reported to authorities about two weeks ago
and since then has dodged repeated attempts to capture it by
park rangers and professional gator wranglers brought in from
out of state.

The cagey creature has meanwhile won the affection of some
local residents, who gather around the 53-acre (21 hectare)
lake waiting for it to surface from the brackish water.

Others have hawked T-shirts bearing an alligator drawing
and the words: “Harbor City You Will Never Catch Me.”