Hunting the Monster of Machado Lake

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Stories of mysterious water dwellers are as old as Loch Ness. But this L.A. tale has teeth.

By Ashley Powers
Times Staff Writer
Posted August 15 2005


Like the best creature tales, this one begins with something lurking in a lake.

The story has been unfolding in Harbor City, just north of San Pedro, where people have packed into Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park for three days. They scan the water for a glimpse of what authorities believe is a spectacled caiman, a crocodile cousin from Central and South America.

The reptile, which has a jaw like a steel trap, has been playing hide-and-seek in Machado Lake with its hunters, who are armed with just a few nets and a raw chicken.

A park gardener first spotted something about 2 p.m. on Friday darting across the nearly 50-acre lake on the park's western end. Chief Ranger Albert Torres rushed to the shoreline.

"It was like a film where you see eyes on the waterline and a back coming out of the water, just briefly," he said Sunday.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-me-gator15aug15,0,4864879.story?coll=sfla-newsnation-front