Loveland – A creature – probably a caiman – remained on the loose Saturday in Jayhawker Ponds, and officials have closed the 30-acre recreation area until the beast can be plucked from the water.
“Make sure toddlers don’t go jumping in, and everything will be fine,” said Jay Young of Colorado Gators, an alligator farm 17 miles north of Alamosa. Young and his crew sometimes help catch such creatures on the loose.
The thing-in-the-water has been spotted several times over the past month, most recently by a 10-year-old boy and an animal control officer, said Lt. Tim Brown of the Loveland Police Department.
He said officials will likely attempt to wrangle the caiman – or whatever it is – out of the water this week.
Larry Callihan, Loveland’s parks manager, said a Larimer Humane Society official confirmed an animal, estimated to be a 5- to 7-foot-long reptile, is in the pond.
“(We’ll use) an electroshocking boat to electrify the water and make it pop up,” said Aimee Ryel, state wildlife officer.
Caimans are like alligators but smaller, quicker and far more aggressive, Young said.
“I would much rather chase alligators than caimans,” he said. “They’ll take off your fingers in a heartbeat. They’re lightning quick.”
But for the most part, humans don’t have to worry. Caimans try to avoid human contact because they’re afraid of being killed or caught, Young said.
Authorities aren’t sure how the creature got into the area, but they suspect someone didn’t want it anymore and set it free.
If it is a caiman, it’s lucky people spotted it, Young said. The beast can’t handle the cold and most likely would have died in September or October.
Young said someone must have set it loose in the pond. “It didn’t swim there from South America,” he said.
It is not the first time a caiman or alligator has been released in a Colorado pond. In one case in Denver, the creature was never found even after Washington Park’s lake was drained.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
