Mirror Lake became a main attraction yesterday after an unusual reptile was spotted sunning itself on the bank of the lake.
People passing by are used to seeing the typical wildlife of birds and squirrels, but most were shocked to see an alligator.
“We came out here to eat and saw all these people,” said Katherine Grant, an undecided freshman.
“I was like, ‘that is not an alligator is it?’ but it was,” said Stephanie Higgins, an undecided freshman.
Nobody knows where the alligator came from, but Barb Shardy, a lab proprietor for the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organism Biology at Ohio State, said it was probably someone’s pet.
“It’s most likely somebody’s pet and they decided that they did not want to take care of it anymore, so they left him,” Shardy said. “This is the second incident like this we’ve had in two years. Last year an iguana was found climbing in one of the trees.”
The alligator had been floating under a tree branch near the bank for most of the afternoon when OSU police and the Capital Area Humane Society arrived.
“This is not the first time we have seen an alligator,” said Jennifer Kulina of the Humane Society. “We have gotten several calls about alligators running loose.”
A crowd began to gather as Ben Leppla, a dispatcher at the University Police attempted to capture the reptile with his laundry basket. Leppla waded into the lake, but his attempt failed when the alligator dove beneath the water’s surface. OSU police and the Humane Society waited an hour for the alligator to re-surface before they decided to postpone their efforts until today.
While the alligator has not shown any hostility towards spectators or the surrounding wildlife, it is still dangerous, Shardy said.
“I wouldn’t recommend getting too close to it. He does have teeth. I am just wondering how long it will be before the ducklings swimming around there start disappearing,” Shardy said.
The fate of the alligator, once it’s captured, is still unclear. There are not many places that will take alligators, Shardy said.
“More than likely the zoo doesn’t have any room, so he will probably be sent to the humane society or there’s a chance that he might just be destroyed,” Shardy said.
