Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Hibernation
Hello Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting for awhile but it has been really cold and I am slowing down a bit. I'm going to have to stop writing until it warms up. What I'm saying is that I'm going to be taking a break for awhile. If you would like me to update you on when I come out of hibernation sign up for my newsletter (on the side of the page). Other than that I would like to thank everyone for their support. I couldn't have made it this far without you. Through all the tough times when I thought the wranglers almost had me the love from all of you helped me push through.

Remember you can continue to send me emails at savereggie@gmail.com and you can still purchase merchandise at my online store.

Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 11:35 AM | Permalink | 64 comments
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
See it when you believe it!
Like I said in my previous post, I'll believe it when I see it.  T-Bone has decided to stay a little longer due to the rain and rising lake levels.  This guy can't make up his mind and it is driving me crazy.  At least I had an idea that he was going to stay.  I knew it was going to rain this week (animals are in touch with nature) and I knew that would give him some confidence.  He never really got near me on Monday night but we'll see what happens today (nothing as of yet).  I don't think he'll catch me, honestly I don't think he has found my crawl like he said.  
 
Here's a recap for any new readers:
 
I was enjoying my life in San Pedro, CA when my owner dropped me into Machado Lake.  I survived off a variety of different foods (fish, dogs, ducks, etc.) while adapting to life in the wild.  Somebody spotted me and the media went crazy.  It was like Machado Lake became the center of the universe for the a few short days.  Soon an Alligator wrangler from Colorado was called in to catch me.  He failed.  A Florida wrangler was called in.  He failed.  He came back for more.  He failed again.  An evacuee from New Orleans named after one of my favorite foods (T-Bone) steak then tried to catch me.  He failed too.  Now I'm here in the lake waiting for my next adventure.  I'm trying to make it a few more weeks into my psuedohibernation phase so that the LA Zoo Zookeepers finally give up until next year as well.
 
My journey has taught me so much about myself and human nature.  I've learned that humans are unpredictable, they love to love but they also love to hate.  I've learned that people in the south bay and especially in Harbor City are extremely kind and generous and extremely willing to accept an ugly beast like myself as one of their own. 
 
I'm still looking for a guest columnist if anyone is interested.
 
Reggie
 
 
 
 
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 2:17 PM | Permalink | 7 comments
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Letter from Jay Young of Colorado
A long time ago I invited all of the wranglers, zoo keepers, and city officials to send me a letter and I'll put it in my blog.  I don't know if Jay Young of Colorado knew about that but he emailed me anyways.  His email was very informative and I appreciated it very much. There are some scary parts about the zoo and some good news about possible future homes. He sounds like he is on my side, I always thought he was good guy inside.    I'm going to put the email below but let me say that I do not have a way (as of right now) to verify that it really came from "the" Jay Young but it seems to me like something he would write.  Jay if this is really you thanks for the fun while it lasted, I loved evading you the most and I respected you because I knew that you would treat me humanely.  Enjoy:
 
"Well, Reggie, I was at the LA Zoo on my last trip to California, as I had promised to return free of charge to catch you, but the LA Zoo and T-Bone said they had it under control. Hah!  So we went to the zoo instead.  I wouldn't say the habitat is necessarily big enough for a third gator, especially if Methusalah is a male, since he will probably try to kill you, that's what larger male gators do to smaller males introduced to their pond.  You may be ok, besides missing one eye, his teeth aren't in great shape and really he isn't either (a little chubby in the gut, needs a traedmill or something).  The good news is, you'll be in quarantine in much smaller quarters for 90 days before you find out.  The better news, I also looked in to a location for a gator and caiman rescue since there is no place for unwanted gators in CA.  Found a good one too.  We can house gators such as yourself as well as overgrown pythons, monitor lizards, turtles, tortoises, etc. and teach the public to be more responsible in their decisions to buy exotic pets. Since my free help has been denied, I don't believe I'll be seeing you at the lake anytime soon.  So I'll be working on a home for you in case you are ever caught, but give those zoo experts a good run for their money.  I'm sitting back wtih everyone else laughing for a while.  Like T-Bone was going to catch you, right.  What a joke, I met him at the lake, and that's all I can say.  At least I can say I only chased you for 2 days and would've had you if they would've been patient enough to wait for the right net.  Oh well, I kinda like to see you proving what I told them from the start, It's just shy of impossible.  Until later
Jay Young "
 
If anyone else would like to write a guest column in my blog (from your own point of view) email me and I'll see if I can print it.  Try to keep it short though.
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 7:35 PM | Permalink | 76 comments
Saturday, October 15, 2005
T-Bone is gone and more on my Cell
So the Daily Breezereported today that T-Bone is calling it quits on Sunday. He thinks that I'm going to go into a semi-hibernation state and it will be impossible to catch me. A lot of things went wrong for the wrangler in this latest attempt, he is still waiting for the part to his hovercraft. Of course I'm still on high alert for two reasons, 1.) I'll believe T-Bone is giving up when he actually leaves and 2.) the LA Zoo guys are still trying to catch me. Thanks for all of the support and thanks for helping me evade all of these crazy wranglers.

Now onto the zoo. After posting the picture of my possible cell at the LA Zoo I received a large outpouring of support and I am grateful for that. However one email from someone who knows the happenings at the zoo emailed me as well. They said that they think I will like the enclosure because it is actually a lot bigger than the photograph. There is an island with some vegetation in the middle of the small pond. Methuselah, the gator that is there, seems like a good gator, it has only one eye because of some type of encounter with a human. The email told me that they don't want that to happen to me so it might be good for me to go to the zoo.

I guess I have to agree on some points, if I do anything wrong I could get killed by the animal police. My life is very difficult because I have to balance a lot of different things like entertainment, human safety, and my freedom. The zoo would provide me with a reliable safe home and a constant food source plus there would be a lot less stress in my life. However, no small pond could compare to the beauty of Machado Lake and all of the wonderful people who come out to support me.

The Daily Breeze also reported that the 710 Grill in San Pedro is offering a Reggie Burger for $6.95. This burger actually contains alligator from New Orleans. To me one of my brothers lives is worth more than $6.95. I don't think this is right, I don't mind people capitlizing off of me but I feel like they would actually make burgers out of me if they could. They say it tastes like chicken so why not just use chicken.

Speaking of food, an urban entertainment blog did a profile on me and let me talk about some of my favorite things. Check that out at Gridskipper. They did a nice job with the article and I never once felt like they treated me as a second class citizen.

Until next time.
Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 11:03 AM | Permalink | 4 comments
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Could this be my new cell?
A nice reader of my blog sent me some good links this week. One of the links he sent over to me was link that had a picture of the alligator cage at the LA Zoo. I can only post a link because the photo is copywritten (someone might go snap some pics for me though) but check it out here. I really hope that is not where they will put me, it looks like a cement jail cell for alligators. The other gator is Methuselah, I wish I could talk to that Gator and found out how life in the zoo is. In a way I was almost looking forward to getting caught and being sent over to the zoo. I thought it would make for an easier life with less anxiety, and I sort of thought I would get spoiled a lot even though I knew the habitat was not the best. However after seeing the conditions of the alligator habitat at the zoo my mind has changed. This has inspired me even more to be free.

I'm going to have my team contact the zoo and see if there is a way that people can donate money directly to the alligator habitat, so stay tuned.

By the way, T-Bone is still waiting for the part to his boat. Their window of opportunity to catch me is shrinking so I really don't understand what they are doing.

Sorry that this posting does not have a very positive vibe to it but the photo of the zoo really got me scared.

Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 11:21 AM | Permalink | 30 comments
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Is it the 12th round yet?
Yes I am still here. Still fighting. Still struggling for my freedom. Still trying to make people famous for doing nothing.

I haven't given up and I will not give up.

This epic struggle of man vs me has shown me a side of myself that I never knew existed. I am strong and my inner strenght is getting stronger. When I was tossed into the lake I was scared and I expected not to survive but a few months later I'm still here prospering in a beautiful lake surrounded by a wonderful community. I am really proud of myself for how much I have grown during this tough time. It amazes me how well I have adapted to life in the wild. I can hunt for food, I can evade wranglers, and I can build my own home. My owners probably didn't know that they had such a strong gator.

T-Bone is saying that this is the last chance for them to catch me for the winter. To me this means that if I can conjure enough inner strength to make it through the next few weeks that I will be home free until it warms up a little. This is the time that I need the most support. It is getting cold and I am slowing down and it happens to be right at their final push (so they say). I'm hoping that it stays warm long enough to avoid their last attempt then it cools off so I can take a long nap in the winter.

Just because I think this may be their final attempt I will still remain alert. I'm not letting them distract me by telling me one thing and doing something different. I'm suprised that T-Bone admitted that they may not catch me until next year. Does this mean he will have to move from his RV? I've heard that he's very comfortable in there. Somebody needs to tell him to start posing for more pictures with Reggie supporters too.

Maybe T-Bone doesn't plan on catching me, I remember some comments he made saying that they should let me stay. I hope that is true.

Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 7:42 AM | Permalink | 55 comments
Monday, October 10, 2005
Calm before the storm?
Could this be the calm before the storm? T-Bone is saying that he doesn't expect to seee much of me in the fall and the winter. Does this mean he is not going to try and catch me? Everyone knows that I'm going to slow down in the colder months but as long as I keep my secret warm spots in the lake to myself I'll be OK. No matter how cold it gets I will still be able to put up a good fight when approached.

This was the quietest weekend I have had in a really long time. Not a lot of supporters came out to see me, no news media, and T-Bone was just hanging out. It was nice but I do miss all the good people of the South Bay throwing me delicious treats. I wouldn't even mind if they brought back Gatorland because they were leaving 20 raw chickens out at time when they were trying to catch me.

Speaking of Gatorland somebody sent me a link to their webpage. The Save Reggie team checked it out and said that they have a pretty cool Gator Cam that allows you to watch live gators in their park. Check it out here: www.Gatorland.com (click on funzone).

I'm assuming it's going to stay slow around here until T-Bone gets his part. People have been emailing me and agreeing that they think he is stalling too. I'm going to remain alert though because this guy is crazy and he might be have some strange plan in the works.

Thanks for all the support.
Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 10:34 AM | Permalink | 3 comments
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Missing Parts & Being Lazy
So far this weekend has been a good one for me. T-Bone hasn't been too active, I guess it's because he is waiting for a boat part still.

One of my readers told me that he was chowing down in San Pedro with Janice Hahn the other day. Maybe he is working on his political career. Imagine that, what if trying to catch me results in Jay Young becoming a TV star and T-Bone becoming a politician. Honestly, I don't think that will happen. Like I said before I think this guy doesn't want to catch me because he is getting taken care right now. As soon as I'm gone he will have another 15 minutes of fame then he will be gone too.

It has been getting really cold at night lately and I've been feeling a little lethargic. I know that if these wranglers get around me the natural fight or flight instincts will kick in. I just have to be careful not to take a nap at the wrong time. I know some warm parts of the lake and I haven't been using them much because I don't want to reveal them but I might starting utilizing them a bit more right now.

I don't want anyone out there to worry about me, overall I'm doing fine. I have lots of food and many good shelters. Only my patience is wearing thin. Maybe T-Bone is trying to lure me to sleep. He said the other day that he wan't me to get used to his smell, that is something that I can't get used to. Is there a shower in that RV that he's living in? I'm never going to get used to this guy being at the lake. When I was first put in the lake I had it all to myself, nobody would swim in it or float around in a boat. It was just for me and the other animals. This is how a nature preserve should be. Somebody recommended that they take me to the Madrona Marsh in Torrance but I've heard that it doesn't have water year round so I don't think that that would work out too well.

Thanks for all the support. Keep sending those emails to savereggie@gmail.com and don't forget to check out my new products in my online store. I just added a "T-Bone=Gator Bait, Don't feed human food to gators" T-Shirt the other day. I also take requests for sayings on different products (like a "Gators don't kill people" ringer T).

Let's keep spreading the word!!!
Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 9:41 AM | Permalink | 2 comments
Friday, October 07, 2005
Pythons vs. Gator
Everyone has been emailing me about the strange thing that happened down in the Florida everglades the other day. I guess a 13 ft long python tried to eat a full grown alligator and the python ended up exploding. This link even has a photo Yahoo News. If you click on the link you can see that this is a lose-lose proposition so I recommend against placing any pythons in Machado Lake. Hopefully the city won't get any ideas.

I think the media is trying to lay low again so that they don't tip me off to T-Bone's new plans. I've heard through the grapevine that he is trying to get a new boat that can go over vegetation because he thinks that's where I spend most of my time. T-Bone has really been actively pursuing me lately he has just been hanging out. I think that he thinks that Machado Lake is his new bayou. I wonder if when we look back on this in a few months or years we will see that T-Bone just used the city for a free vacation. To me that would be kind of funny. That would make him more of a harmful pest than me.

Thanks for all the great letters about my favorite baby photo. I wanted to share that one with you all on a great day like Weds.

I'm hoping that all the wranglers take a three day weekend and let me relax a little again. This whole adventure has been an emotional rollercoaster and I can use some TLC time. I want to say thanks to the guy who sent over two whole raw chickens, they were tasty. This weekend I just want to sit back, watch the birds, and take some good long naps, and a few quick swims. I'm glad that I live in the water because it has been so hot and dry lately. I do prefer warm weather over cold but this has been ridiculous.

Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 10:34 AM | Permalink | 2 comments
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
10,000 Visitors, Food Critics, and more Reptile Experts
A lot has been happening today so I have a lot to update.

First of all it is time to celebrate the 10,000 visitor to my blog. In honor of the 10,000 visit I'm posting my favorite baby photo of all time (see below). It shows me when I'm about 4 ft long and I'm acting mighty ferocious with a beautiful piece of raw meat in my mouth. I think it's quite impressive how I can have a large piece of food in my teeth and still smile. Thanks to all the supporters who haven't given up hope. Let's keep spreading the word!



Now to the real news, last night my sources revealed to me that someone else was going to come out and try catching me. I thought it was going to be the crocodile hunter or Jeff Corwin or something but the real scoop is that the LA Zoo has assigned some of its reptile experts to my case.

I guess they are going to team up with T-Bone now that he has supposedly found my "crawl". Did you see how Councilwoman Hahn described my house - a "depression in the plants where the alligator crawls in and out every day." To me it is much more than that, in my mind I live in a wonderful natural environment. My house isn't all about looks rather it is about comfort and a sense of family. My "crawl" is not my house, the whole park (and the whole city) is my home and everyone (besides wranglers) are part of my family.

Anyways, I guess these new reptile experts (weren't the other people experts too?) think they are going to get me. Combining them with T-Bone has me thinking that the city operates under the "two wrongs make a right" or the "two negatives equals a positive" philosophy. Here is an article from the San Diego Union. I kind of laid low today because I didn't know what to expect from these guys. I was really wanting to post a celebratory 10,000 visitor post this morning but I knew that for my survival I'd better wait until I knew the coast was clear.

Speaking of philosophy, I have been getting all kinds of questions from different folks asking me about everything from my love life (single), my political views (none), and my religion (no comment) but nobody has asked me about my philosophy on life. To be honest I can't explain what my philosophy is I sort of just deal with whatever each day delivers to me.

Also I feel honored that one of my favorite writers did an article about me in the LA Weekly. His name is Jonathan Gold and he usually writes about food (that's why I like him) but this time he took some time out to write about me. Thanks Mr. Gold, I'm glad that you didn't write about me in a food article (please don't eat alligator, I heard you can buy the meat at Hawaii Market in San Gabriel). The article talks about the Lake and the poor condition that it is in. I agree the lake is pretty dirty but Gators are known for having strong immune systems and I'm doing fine. Hopefully (I stated this before) I can help bring some attention to the cleanup of this lake and eventually to others in the LA area.

Keep the great emails coming to savereggie@gmail.com. Let's take this page to 20,000 visitors. Thanks for all the support.

Now remember you can get the Original Reggie gear at my Online Store. I also do custom sayings on any of the products if you are interested. Below is one of the most popular products lately:












Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 8:28 PM | Permalink | 11 comments
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Scientists Agree: Leave Me Alone
Somebody pointed me to this LA Times Article that talks about why I should stay in a lake. A local naturalist says that I can actually help get rid of invasive species by eating them. I believe this is true because my diet has consisted of many animals that I don't believe are native to CA.

It was interesting to me that the Times wrote an article about this because yesterday I gave an email interview to Penninusla High and I said many of the same things. The City should leave me alone and utilized me as a benefit. I am good for the environment, the local economy, and the overall morale of the city.

Enough of that, what's going on at the lake? Not much really, T-Bone is here and there trying to sneak around. He's starting to make me hungry. We are both sort of laying low right now, we're both waiting for the other one to make the first move and to ultimately make the first mistake. I don't know if I would call this a battle of the brains but it kind of like some sort of primitive chess match.

That's about it for today. I'll update if anything new happens today.

Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 7:10 AM | Permalink | 6 comments
Monday, October 03, 2005
Changing Old Habits

Since my last post I've heard a lot of folks at the lake talking about T-Bone and how he has me all figured out. Because of this I've started changing a lot of my habits. I'm not really changing anything major right now because I don't think I can withstand the anxiety that wholesale changes would cause. I'm working on changing little things here and there so that I can throw him for a loop. I'm changing the time I eat and swim, the location of my meals and I take a new route to my "crawl" everynight so that hopefully I can lose T-Bone on my way there. He thinks that all Gators are the same and they we have simple minds, I'm out to prove him wrong. Many Gators are set in their ways but that is because they have no choice or they just don't care. When they are fighting for their lives they can adapt quickly. The part I hate about this is that I am being kept from getting comfortable. Everytime I get some sort of pattern going I have to change it because another wrangler is out to get me. It would be nice to get a month or two off especially heading into the winter.

It seems that the number of people who want me caught is increasing fast at this point. I get the feeling that there are just as many haters at the lake as there are supporters. I've been told that my Cyber-support is strong and that I have many friends all over the U.S.

The Daily Breeze put an article about my blog and my online store in today's paper. They talk about someone who "channels" me, well this is not exactly true. As I explained in an earlier post I have a team that inputs my entries into the computer for me since I do not have internet access or a computer here in the lake. I have been verbalizing my entries and the Save Reggie Team has been typing them all for me(Thanks Guys!). Somebody emailed me and suggested I get one of those wireless Blackberry things but I don't think that that would work well because my fingers are too fat and I would press to many keys at one time.

There is not much other news from the weekend other than a lot of people came out to show support and resistance to the "Save Reggie" movement. Thank you to all the supporters, let's not give up the fight. Keep spreading the word!!

Don't forget to check out my baby photos that I put up in my earlier posts.


Reggie

 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 6:58 AM | Permalink | 1 comments
Saturday, October 01, 2005
T-Bone Moved In
Yesterday I saw this big blocky object being moved in by the lake, being a gator I obviously didn't know what it was but luckily some loyal readers and the Daily Breeze let me know that T-Bone is moving in. Someone donated a camper to T-Bone so that he can live at our lake while trying to catch me. Talk about Gator Haters!

T-Bone supposedly knows where I like to hang out which really isn't that hard to figure out if you just lay back and watch me for awhile. These other wranglers were too impatient, they just wanted to get off the plane and catch me. T-Bone has nothing else to do and nowhere really important to go so he can just watch and wait until he thinks the moments right. This is kind of scary because with the other wranglers I knew that if I could hide out for a few days they would eventually leave and I could resurface again. I'm going to spend this weekend watching T-Bone to see if he really has found my hiding spot. If he has I'm moving, this lake is big and plenty of top grade gator homes.

Some people have been thinking that I followed the rain water of a while ago out of the lake. I'm still here living it up the best I can. Don't worry about all the fish that have been dying in the lake either (was it the runoff into the lake?) I've got plenty of food. I've recently been introduced to lumpia (a traditional Filipino appetizer), wow those are good maybe someone could make me one the size of a burrito though.

The Daily Breeze contacted my team and told them that there is should be a short blurb about me in the "ask us" section of their paper on Monday. Today they put in an article about another urban gatorthat occurred in 1996 in San Francisco (I've heard it's too cold there). The story is a lot like mine but this gator gets captured and ultimately returned to the wild in New Orleans. I hope "Golden Gator" as they called him is doing alright. We gators are survivors.

The Daily Breeze also reported that somebody called the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. I guess they forgot to tell that person that I'm an alligator. I'm not really scared of Irwin anyways, people have been telling me that he sedates the crocs before catching me. If that's true I know I can escape from him because I'm not going to let anyone give me any type of drugs. Of course if I'm captured by anyone I do expect a full physical exam at the zoo, and I'm willing to take some meds if needed at that time.

Come out and support me this weekend. T-Bone is feeling confident like my end is near. Let's show him that Reggie support is still going strong.

Reggie
 
posted by Reggie The Gator at 10:27 AM | Permalink | 8 comments