Gator stuck in storm drain goes missing

May 12, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI

Every day Sabrina and Kyle Ozuna rushed home from school to see their neighborhood buddy.

They named him Patrick, and they fed him hotdogs and ham.

“But the ice cream was a mistake,” said Kyle, 10.

That’s because alligators don’t eat ice cream. And Patrick was a 10-foot gator stuck for several weeks in a storm drain in their street’s cul-de-sac.

North Miami Beach police and wildlife rescuers had planned to flush Patrick from the drain Monday, trap the animal and move it to a refuge for exotic animals.

Patrick didn’t wait around. He went missing Sunday. And the drain leads to a neighborhood lake.

Now police are executing a search for Patrick, who apparently lumbered out of the drain and escaped to freedom — somewhere.

No one knows when the gator took up residence in the Pickwick Lake Estates neighborhood.

The neighborhood is now on high gator-alert.

Police fear Patrick could be a problem for animals and children in the neighborhood.

The Ozuna kids thought Patrick was hungry, but authorities advise it is never a good idea to feed a gator.

“People think it’s like feeding the ducks, and you’re not,” said North Miami Beach police Sgt. Nelson Reyes.

“You’re dealing with an alpha predator. He might see small children on the shoreline, and he might associate them with the food source. That’s not good.”

For almost two months, the Ozunas and their cousins visited the gator in the drain, which was securely covered by a 50-pound iron grate. Their younger brother first spotted the reptile while toddling around outside. The kids named him after the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants’ starfish sidekick. Sometimes, though, they threw rocks at him.

“I guess he got annoyed, and he growled at us,” said Sabrina, 13.

Police made automated telephone calls to neighborhood residents informing them about the missing gator.

If Patrick is found in the lake, the wildlife commission will go after him, Reyes said. If he returns to the drain, North Miami Beach police and the nonprofit agency will try to capture him, then take him to a sanctuary.