Post by Barnaby Cuthbert on Nov 19, 2014 14:28:02 GMT -8
Is something lurking in Lake Washington?
It looks like ‘a man was eaten right out of his boat,' Seattle residents tell police
By GRADY HALTER, SEATTLE HERALD REPORTER
SEATTLE -- Is it a croc or a crock?
Are razor-toothed reptiles patrolling the waters of Lake Washington? Or has a new suburban legend sprung to life?
Medina wants to know; so does Mercer Island. So do the men and women of law enforcement in both towns.
It was just Saturday day that two reports came in to Local police that described a shape that looked like “a man eaten right out of his boat" near the docks in Lake Washington's Fairweather Bay.
Bigfoot? Loch Ness Monster? A critter befitting the descriptions of ancient Indians, whose legends had spotted, horned serpents and other assorted monsters living in the lake? No one seems sure.
Still the reports were real enough for police.
Medina police spokeswoman Sharon Grayson could not reveal identities, but said each report was taken seriously and checked out by police -- one by a Medina officer on foot, the other by the Mercer Island Marine Patrol.”
"Both were essentially the same," Grayson said. "The people said they saw something that seemed to be a guy suddenly yanked out of his boat by something almost invisible. The one report said 'head of an alligator', someone else called it an ‘alternate universe were-orca’.
"Both were seen from the docks of their residences."
Grayson said there have been no other sightings reported since the two called in on Saturday.
In a phone call to Sgt. Kate Chardell in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's regional office in Mill Creek yesterday, there was a long pause before Chardell finally said, "Well, after that cougar was found in Discovery Park back in the 1980s, I've learned never to say never.
"But, in this case I'd have to say, even if it were a caiman (the crocodile's smaller cousin, a native of Central and South America common to the pet-store trade), it would be highly, highly unlikely to see it in that lake this time of year."
Her reason, she said, has to do with the nature of caimans and the nature of Pacific Northwest weather.
Crocs and gators and caimans, he said, are coldblooded creatures whose survival depends on the heat of tropical climates.
"Know how cold that lake is right now?" she asked. "Probably something like 47 degrees, which means an animal like that would last for, oh, maybe 20 minutes."
Guides for the care of caimans suggest owners have an enclosure with temperatures that range from 80 to 97 degrees. There are no guidelines listed for were-orcas, to this reporter’s knowledge.
Chardell recalled the caimans finally captured sunning themselves at Seattle's Green Lake some years ago, and the caiman captured at the north end of Lake Washington a few years later.
In both cases, he said, it was summer, and in the Green Lake case the water temperature had been pushing past 70 degrees -- still cold by tropical standards.
The owner of a Bellevue pet store has a theory how such a critter might make it outdoors.
Pet Shop Guys owner Randell Staley said he and his wife, Lorraine, don't offer crocodilians for sale at their pet store in Bellevue's Overlake shopping district.
The animals bought as fingerlings grow and grow.
Crocodilians grow fast enough in captivity to make a mess before you know it.
"They're a pain in the (posterior)," he said. "First thing you know, they're 3 feet long and looking to kill you."
So like the bunny set free in a local park, the caiman is released to fend for itself in the decidedly temperate Northwest
Should the Medina sightings turn out to be more than phantasmagorical, Chardell said, the creature spotted might well have been a turtle up for a little moonlight on an unseasonably warm November night.
"But even if it was what somebody thought it was," she said, "it won't be eating every Kid Scout in the neighborhood. Most of these caimans we've seen released are not much more than a foot long and wouldn't be a danger to anyone, especially not in these temperatures."
The Medina reports nevertheless have people looking twice at splashes in the lake these days.
Ned Fried, a Fairweather Bay neighbor, said yesterday that he is among them.
"I went out to my boat and saw this big swirl in the water," he said. "We have muskrats. We have some freshwater otters. We have ducks that dive. But usually you see them come up.
"This one didn't." Ned paused for affect. "This one didn't."
It looks like ‘a man was eaten right out of his boat,' Seattle residents tell police
By GRADY HALTER, SEATTLE HERALD REPORTER
SEATTLE -- Is it a croc or a crock?
Are razor-toothed reptiles patrolling the waters of Lake Washington? Or has a new suburban legend sprung to life?
Medina wants to know; so does Mercer Island. So do the men and women of law enforcement in both towns.
It was just Saturday day that two reports came in to Local police that described a shape that looked like “a man eaten right out of his boat" near the docks in Lake Washington's Fairweather Bay.
Bigfoot? Loch Ness Monster? A critter befitting the descriptions of ancient Indians, whose legends had spotted, horned serpents and other assorted monsters living in the lake? No one seems sure.
Still the reports were real enough for police.
Medina police spokeswoman Sharon Grayson could not reveal identities, but said each report was taken seriously and checked out by police -- one by a Medina officer on foot, the other by the Mercer Island Marine Patrol.”
"Both were essentially the same," Grayson said. "The people said they saw something that seemed to be a guy suddenly yanked out of his boat by something almost invisible. The one report said 'head of an alligator', someone else called it an ‘alternate universe were-orca’.
"Both were seen from the docks of their residences."
Grayson said there have been no other sightings reported since the two called in on Saturday.
In a phone call to Sgt. Kate Chardell in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's regional office in Mill Creek yesterday, there was a long pause before Chardell finally said, "Well, after that cougar was found in Discovery Park back in the 1980s, I've learned never to say never.
"But, in this case I'd have to say, even if it were a caiman (the crocodile's smaller cousin, a native of Central and South America common to the pet-store trade), it would be highly, highly unlikely to see it in that lake this time of year."
Her reason, she said, has to do with the nature of caimans and the nature of Pacific Northwest weather.
Crocs and gators and caimans, he said, are coldblooded creatures whose survival depends on the heat of tropical climates.
"Know how cold that lake is right now?" she asked. "Probably something like 47 degrees, which means an animal like that would last for, oh, maybe 20 minutes."
Guides for the care of caimans suggest owners have an enclosure with temperatures that range from 80 to 97 degrees. There are no guidelines listed for were-orcas, to this reporter’s knowledge.
Chardell recalled the caimans finally captured sunning themselves at Seattle's Green Lake some years ago, and the caiman captured at the north end of Lake Washington a few years later.
In both cases, he said, it was summer, and in the Green Lake case the water temperature had been pushing past 70 degrees -- still cold by tropical standards.
The owner of a Bellevue pet store has a theory how such a critter might make it outdoors.
Pet Shop Guys owner Randell Staley said he and his wife, Lorraine, don't offer crocodilians for sale at their pet store in Bellevue's Overlake shopping district.
The animals bought as fingerlings grow and grow.
Crocodilians grow fast enough in captivity to make a mess before you know it.
"They're a pain in the (posterior)," he said. "First thing you know, they're 3 feet long and looking to kill you."
So like the bunny set free in a local park, the caiman is released to fend for itself in the decidedly temperate Northwest
Should the Medina sightings turn out to be more than phantasmagorical, Chardell said, the creature spotted might well have been a turtle up for a little moonlight on an unseasonably warm November night.
"But even if it was what somebody thought it was," she said, "it won't be eating every Kid Scout in the neighborhood. Most of these caimans we've seen released are not much more than a foot long and wouldn't be a danger to anyone, especially not in these temperatures."
The Medina reports nevertheless have people looking twice at splashes in the lake these days.
Ned Fried, a Fairweather Bay neighbor, said yesterday that he is among them.
"I went out to my boat and saw this big swirl in the water," he said. "We have muskrats. We have some freshwater otters. We have ducks that dive. But usually you see them come up.
"This one didn't." Ned paused for affect. "This one didn't."