Lake Erie Alligator Could Be Illegally Released Pet

Authorities are on the lookout for an alligator spotted in Lake Erie, but there's been no sign of it since it was spotted in waters off Erie, Pennsylvania, eight days ago. Officials say they're taking the sighting seriously and believe the reptile could be a pet that somebody released into the lake, the Erie Times-News reports. Warning signs have been posted along the Erie waterfront, and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has asked an animal trapper to assist the search. Experts say alligators can swim up to 20 miles an hour, so it could have traveled a long way along the shoreline.

Julie Slomski, executive director of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, says no tracks or other traces of the alligator have been found, but "if it's legitimate there are a lot of areas along the water that alligators can hide. It could be scared and hiding." Christina Roach, who took video of the alligator, tells Fox Weather that she was visiting the lake with her family when "a man came running over yelling to get out of the water and pointed to the alligator." She says she "immediately yelled for our kids to get out of the water."

Trisha Volz with the Erie Reptile Expo says she believes the alligator is around 3 feet long, the AP reports. "I have been searching for him almost daily," she says. "It's really tough because there's so many people searching for him."

• The Erie Times-News looks at other unusual sightings in the lake over the years. Capt. Jim Smolko of the Northwest Region of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission says a 3-foot alligator was captured around 12 years ago. Jerry Skrypzak, president of Save Our Native Species of Lake Erie, says UFO sightings near Presque Isle State Park more than 50 years ago were caused by "a bunch of kids who took cleaner bags and lit a candle in them and let them go." After reports of a "swamp monster" terrorizing people who rented canoes, police staked out lagoons at the park and "managed to capture a man who was painting himself green, donning a rubber mask, and swimming out to frighten female canoers," he says.

(More Lake Erie stories.)