SEE YOU LATER ...
After week of watching and waiting, rogue reptile captured in Humboldt Pk.
Later, gator.
One fishing rod cast from the shoreline of the Humboldt Park Lagoon from a distance of about 25 feet.
That’s all it took for alligator hunter Frank Robb early Tuesday to hook and reel in the reptile that’s captured the city’s attention since it was discovered July 9.
“It was one cast and done,” said Robb, 39, owner of Crocodilian Specialist Services in St. Augustine, Florida.
“Everybody’s got different blessings. This is my blessing,” he said of his ability to catch gators — a task a volunteer with the Chicago Herpetological Society known as “Alligator Bob” could not get done in the preceding days with baited traps.
The gator, which weighs about 40 pounds and measures 5 feet, 3 inches long, put up “a little bit” of a fight, said Robb.
After days of gator headlines, Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided enough was enough and hired Robb, who arrived in Chicago Sunday night. After checking into a hotel, he headed to the lagoon.
He worked through Monday, and the hook on the end of his fishing line finally snagged the gator on the tail about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday near some lily pads in the northwest end of the lagoon.
Chicago Animal Care and Control will house the reptile at its South Side headquarters until it can be placed at a sanctuary or a similar place, probably in Florida.
Meanwhile, Robb is being celebrated: In addition to throwing out the first pitch before the Cubs hosted the Reds at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, he’s scheduled to flip the switch turning on Buckingham Fountain at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The carnival-like atmosphere that’s surrounded the lagoon, which has been flush with curious onlookers all week, was not lost on city officials who staged a news conference Tuesday morning.
After a brief summary of the catch before a bank of news cameras, Animal Care and Control Executive Director Kelley Gandurski said, “Without further adieu, I think we will reveal.”
Robb opened a plastic bin and lifted the gator by its tail into his arms for all to see. City officials placed a red bow tie collar around its neck. The gator’s mouth was taped, and it whipped its body from side to side before it sat motionless.
Gandurski petted the gator as Robb showed him off.
“It was just a matter of finding him,” he said of the hunt.
“We needed quiet, and we needed to have the place shut down for a while and let the animal relax so he would give us an opportunity.”
After days of nearly unrestricted access to the lagoon, the city shut down part of it Sunday so Robb could do his work.
“When we first saw him, he went down for a minute and then he vocalized and popped back up, and one cast and it was a done deal,” Robb said.
The hook snagged the gator by the base of the tail.
“The second I put my hands on him the hook fell out,” Robb said, noting the hook didn’t break the gator’s skin or harm the gator in any way.
Asked if the gator tried to bite him, Robb responded, “He tried to defend himself, yeah.”
A city spokesman declined to say how much the city paid Robb to capture to gator or how much it cost to staff the lagoon with extra city workers and police during the hunt.
The numbers, he said, were still being crunched.
Lightfoot, who had concerns the gator might pose a safety risk to residents, said news of its capture was music to her ears during an unrelated conference call with reporters Tuesday.
“I have to tell you I was very relieved. I went to bed last night not knowing what the outcome would be . ... When I woke up this morning to all the good news, I was incredibly happy,” said Lightfoot.
But not everyone was jovial. Several onlookers at the lagoon on Tuesday lamented the alligator’s capture.
“I’m sad to see him go because it was actually pretty nice to have him here,” said Enoch DeJesus, a member of the Humboldt Park Fishing Society.
A person walking a dog near the park had a decidedly different take: “Good. Now we can have the park back.”
“It’s good but also sad,” said Pablo Pizarro, who heard news helicopters over the park and sauntered over with his family to investigate.
“Watch, there will be a copycat now,” DeJesus said of the chances another gator turns up in the lagoon.
Gandurski and Chicago Park District Supt. Mike Kelly, apparently also concerned about the possibility, reminded people it’s illegal to dump unwanted pets, like alligators, in the lagoon.
“WE NEEDED QUIET, AND WE NEEDED TO HAVE THE PLACE SHUT DOWN FOR A WHILE AND LET THE ANIMAL RELAX SO HE WOULD GIVE US AN OPPORTUNITY.”
FRANK ROBB, on his successful capture of the Humboldt Park alligator