Chicago Cops: There's An Alligator In Humboldt Park Lagoon

Let's think about this...which works better, posting a "No Swimming" sign or pointing out a 5-foot alligator in the water?

Speaking just for me, it's gotta be the latter. Then again, I'm not generally inclined toward cannonballing into lagoons at parks, so I think I'm safe.

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After getting reports on Tuesday of a possible alligator in the water at Humboldt Park, Chicago cops went to check it out, and they confirmed that yes, there most certainly is a gator hanging around.

Fox 32 Chicago:

One woman, Lizeth Lopez, was at the lagoon when she reported seeing the alligator surface from the water.
“We saw him. He’s there,” Lopez said. She indicated with her hands that the creature was a few feet long. “Ah, I can’t come here no more… but now, with these things here, you never know. We’ve gotta be safe. We’ve got to make sure they get this thing.”
An animal expert with the Chicago Herpetological Society, who goes by “Alligator Bob,” was at the lagoon Tuesday afternoon, Schlueter said. He was shown witnesses’ photos of the animal, but the photos were murky and unconvincing, she said. Bob was using a canoe to monitor the perimeter of the lagoon and bait the animal.
“If this is a pet alligator, it was probably kept in an aquarium and released” into the lagoon, Schlueter said. It “will probably be scared and try to hide.”