Gators In Glendale?

Where’s Steve Irwin OR Crocodile Dundee when we need them? Although not yet confirmed by Glendale Police that an alligator was placed in the Arrowhead Lakes community, north of the Loop 101, but they were tipped off the gator was being dumped out of a 10-gallon aquarium. Police are still investigating reports that someone dumped an alligator into an artificial lake in Glendale. So are there Gators In Glendale?

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According to the Herpetological Society of Phoenix, if an alligator was put in the lake, something else may have already taken care of it.

“A lake that big, you’re never going to see an animal that small out there. At the lake you have fish that will eat it, you have raccoons that will eat it, you have that will eat it and that thing has absolutely no cover,” Russ Johnson said.

Police are still trying to determine if there is an actual gator in the lake, and have it safely removed and transported to a sanctuary.

This isn’t the first time Arizona has had an alligator invade it’s ecosystem.

The “Monster of Pakoon Springs”

Gators In Glendale? Well it ain’t the first time. One of the first interesting critters to be introduced to Pakoon Springs was Clem the alligator.

In the late 1980’s Clem was transported over from Georgia by a few friends of Chuck’s as a gift to the rancher. Chuck, not knowing exactly what to do with an alligator, sent him into the pond and wished him the best.

Clem kept to himself most days, barring a few exceptions when he was lured out with 7 whole chickens or children swimming in his pond (WHAT????). Chuck even thought at one point he had been scooped up by a helicopter using the water in the pond to put out a nearby wildfire. Clem, however, was eventually found in 2003 by BLM workers, but not before making true the wild tale of the alligator on the Arizona Strip.

Pakoon Springs is a very different place now that there are no more alligators, and the burros that remain are now wild. Today, the springs are part of a comprehensive rehabilitation project to restore the area to its natural habitat.

Desert springs are an essential component of life on the Arizona Strip, as they are often the only sources of natural groundwater, and play important roles in their delicate ecosystems. One disruption of these springs can have severe consequences.

Because the springs at Pakoon are so important to the area, Grand Canyon Parashant NM worked to restore the area to its natural habitat. The springs are slowly taking on their natural form, but not without remembering its wild and wonderful past, full of ostriches, alligators, and pigs.