An alligator that surprised two boys fishing in a Washington County lake was shot dead by a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources enforcement officer, but another alligator remained on the loose Thursday.
The alligator, hungry for live frogs that two boys fishing Goose Lake used as bait, emerged suddenly out of the lily pads.
The boys called for help, and DNR officer Scott Arntzen killed the gator with a shotgun blast to the head from a boat and watched it sink. At three feet long, it wasn't considered dangerous, but Arntzen said alligators don't belong in Minnesota lakes and have no business alarming anglers.
A second alligator suspected of lurking in the same lake Thursday could not be found. Jerry Cusick, a commander at the Washington County Sheriff's Office, said both alligators belong to a Scandia resident, Will St. Sauver, who could be in violation of a city ordinance for keeping them.
"Now he's saying somebody stole his gators," Cusick said.
St. Sauver's father, Bill, said the two alligators went missing from an outdoor tank about seven weeks ago. He didn't know they were named Bonnie and Clyde until Thursday, and he said his son was in a boat searching the lake for the survivor and had seen it in the dark Wednesday night.
"Their eyes shine at night," said Bill St. Sauver, whose family owns a farm across the road from Goose Lake.
The alligator incident comes about a week after a Stillwater resident found a five-foot boa constrictor coiled on his deck. Hardly native to Minnesota, the snake was another apparent escapee from private captivity. After a fair amount of commotion, it was hauled away for adoption.
