Alligator found swimming in Lake Michigan, Waukegan officials say

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (WLS) –

A four-foot American alligator was found swimming in Lake Michigan on Monday morning in the northern suburbs of Waukegan, officials said.

"It's not every day that someone reports an alligator to Lake Michigan and the report is true," the city said in a message posted on his Facebook page.

David Castaneda was kayaking and fishing in the lake when he spotted the gator about a yard away from his kayak. According to an employee of Larsen Marine Service, a full-service marine facility just north of Waukegan Harbor, the animal had tape around his muzzle.

"It was so weird, something out of the ordinary," he said. "It's not supposed to be here, so it's not, he can not defend himself and he had his mouth shut, so he was going to die if I left him there."

Not wanting to wait for Waukegan Animal Control, Castaneda did what any resourceful fisherman would do: he caught it.

"So I just changed their lure for another one that was bigger than the hook and I threw it over his back and he hung on the little scale that was on his back out, "he said.

October, in Chicago, is certainly not the ideal climate for alligators, according to Rob Carmichael, curator at the Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, where the animal was finally transported. Swaddling the gator like a baby, Carmichael said the reptile was "always a little stressed" in relation to the ordeal but that he had also gained a new life.

"We will know his true personality probably tomorrow because he will be in optimal heat, warm water and a normal alligator climate," he said.