Cop “Kills” Crazy Croc Cryptid

You have read often of out-of-place crocodilians here. Most are sighted. Some turn out to be caimans, others are alligators, and a few are crocodiles. This one, however, is way beyond the norm. This is, indeed, a cryptid, because it was unidentified until it was identified.

Photos show what a resident thought was an alligator lurking in the weeds near a pond at a Independence, Missouri, home.

When an alligator was spotted near a suburban Kansas City pond, local police decided they were taking no chances: They would shoot the fearsome creature from a distance with a rifle.

But the alligator took the first shot to the head without batting an eyelid, and then the second one bounced off.

At that point, the officers realized the animal was not a bulletproof beast; rather, it was just a concrete lawn ornament, The Associated Press reported Thursday, June 2, 2011.

Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said the department became involved after receiving a call from a man who reported seeing a gator.

It was among some weeds near a tree and, according to Gentry. It appeared to be the real thing.

After it was discovered to be a harmless lawn ornament, a landowner explained that he put it there to keep children off his property, Gentry told the AP. The officers advised owner Rick Sheridan to use “No Trespassing” signs instead.

(I’m still attempting to identify the specific company that produces this lawn croc. It does not appear to be a Toscano garden statue. ~ Loren)

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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