High Park caiman may become a reptile ambassador
Alligator relative captured in a Toronto pond last week is doing well and will probably stay at Reptilia, a reptile zoo in Vaughan.

Thestar.com
July 15, 2014
By May Warren

Things are looking up for Toronto’s best known cold-blooded creature, the caiman caught in Catfish Pond on the west side of High Park.

After evading capture for nearly an hour and drawing a crowd of fascinated neighbours, it was wrangled by a staff member from Reptilia, a reptile zoo in Vaughan, last Monday.

But its luck may be starting to turn.

“It’s doing quite well. It’s in our quarantine area right now. It’s resting. It’s feeding. It’s living its life,” says Andre Ngo, director of research and curriculum at Reptilia.

Ngo says the spectacled caiman, a smaller relative of the alligator native to Central and South America, is enjoying a diet of insects, quail and small rodents. It will be in quarantine for about a month, where it will be checked by a vet to ensure it’s not bringing in any parasites or diseases.

After that, says Ngo, staff still needs to work out the details but it “certainly looks like it will end up staying.”

According to Ngo, the reptile zoo is considering putting the creature on display or taking it around to schools as part of its educational outreach program, where it would “basically become an ambassador for reptiles.”

Ngo says the caiman, which he thinks is anywhere from a year to five years old, was “almost certainly someone’s pet.” But it’s not clear whether it was dumped on purpose or it escaped.

Owning a caiman is against City of Toronto bylaws. As crocodilians, they are on the list of “prohibited species,” along with tigers, gorillas and other animals considered too dangerous to keep as pets.

Fiona Venedam, supervisor with Toronto Animal Services, says the agency gets about 50 calls a year about animals on this list. But it’s rare to have a public capture.

Pet stores in the GTA can’t sell caimans but people sometimes bring them back from other cities, she says.

“There is an illegal trade in these animals, and if somebody wanted them I’m sure they could find them,” she adds.

“We certainly know a lot of people will smuggle them up from the States,” says Ngo. “It’s possible someone went to Florida and brought one back. There are a number of places it could have come from.”

The High Park caiman wouldn’t have survived the winter in the pond, but Ngo estimates that it could now grow to up to 2.5 metres long and over 140 kilograms, living as long as 40 years.

Staff at Reptilia haven’t thought of a name yet and are considering holding a public contest once the reptile is out of quarantine.

Ngo says the staff also haven’t determined whether it’s a male or female as it can be invasive to check and, after all, it’s been quite the week for the little guy or girl.

“It’s in stress quite a bit as it is,” he says.