Alligator On Loose for 4 Days in Western New York
You know how some people go to the beach and have a fear of open waters? Who would have thought that you would have to worry about that in Buffalo.
Fasten your seatbelt because this is a bizarre story.
Somehow, someone let an alligator loose in 2001 into the Scajaquada Creek, which starts in Lancaster, goes through Cheektowaga, and eventually through a culvert that goes through Buffalo and, long story short empties out in the Niagara River as it passes through Black Rock.
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Anyway, the alligator, or really, 4-foot Caiman, was dubbed Scajaquada Jack after it Buffalo Animal Control spent 4 days trying to get the alligator out of the water that is absolutely infested with pollution and gunk. Then it became an issue because random people were trying to go get the alligator and bait it themselves with dead chickens.
It didn't work.
The Investigative Post revisited the story with one of the officers on the case, Frank Poincelot:
The way Poincelot recounts the story, a rat lured the caiman out, which allowed animal control officer Chuck Loubert Jr. to lasso a dog snare around its neck. The next few minutes involved an intense struggle to reel the 50-pound caiman in while it launched into a death roll, dragging Loubert into the water.
“It was a total fiasco,” Poincelot said.
But then he said: “I had a crew of five officers who waded in that ugly creek for hours. When we were in there it really stunk and you could feel the real muddy, crappy stuff at the bottom.”
Where is the alligator now? Well, obviously they needed to find the alligator a home, but Buffalo Animal Control needed to obtain paperwork so, for 2 months they couldn't ship this alligator until the paperwork came in. So, the alligator sat in a baby pool in the Buffalo animal garage on Broadway for a while.
Jack now resides in St. Augustine at an alligator farm and apparently, he could still be alive. The park that has him in Florida actually wanted to use him as a show and tell alligator because he was only 4 foot compared to the other monsters they have.
But, Scajaquada Jack was too shy.
He is not yet a daddy. In case you were wondering.
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