Legend of monster of Laguna Lake comes to life

Orange County Register ^ | 9/10/04 | BARBARA GIASONE

[SoCal Pubbie]

FULLERTON – Rumors swirled around Laguna Lake for 40 years that a vicious snapping turtle named "Old Bob" lurked beneath its water lilies.

Turns out the talk was not some exaggerated fish tale.

On Thursday, dredging company workers snared the 100-pound snapper near a park dam in the north-central part of the city.

A Santa Monica contractor, hired to scoop out fish during a $2 million restoration of the 7-acre lake, netted the 50-year-old, 36-inch alligator snapping turtle along with catfish, crappie and bluegills.

[SoCal Pubbie]

A real life lake monster from my home town! Hey, it's the OC, what did 'ya expect, a plesiosaur?

[SoCal Pubbie]

ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE
• Latin name: Macroclemys temmincki
• Size: Upper shell can be more than 26 inches long
• Record weight: 219 pounds
• Habitat: Deep-water rivers, lakes, sloughs; occasionally found in brackish waters
• Range: East Texas to Florida panhandle; north to Iowa and Indiana
• Characteristics: Largest freshwater turtle in the world; has pink, worm-like structure on its tongue used as “fishing lure” to attract prey; massive head with strongly hooked beak; very long tail; carapace is gray or brown and serrated.
• Source: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles & Amphibians

[SoCal Pubbie]

There is a much more ferocious looking photo on the front page of the paper. Weird looking thing!

[Boundless]

> Read more at ocregister.com ...

Note: requires registration.

I didn't bother, nor check bugmenot.

[blackdog]

"Luke, fetch me my rifle"

"Yes Sir, Boss"

[ChefKeith]

Heck that's a baby compared to the ones We used to see in Houston in the drainage ditches.

Better keep an eye on the Jack-A-Roo!

[FreedomFarmer]

I've got a great recipe!

[StoneColdGOP]

Beautiful creature!

[Lijahsbubbe]

Wow. His shell really looks like armor.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Of course, everything's bigger in Texas.

[An.American.Expatriate]

Any bets that the envrio-nazis will demand that this turtle be returned to it's former home??

[OC_Steve]

"Ol' Man Bob", at first I thought they were talking about you, but then I saw the picture.

You don't have any of those in your pond do you?

[pikachu]

For now, the transplanted Fullerton resident will be heavily fed with chicken, rodents, shrimp, fish and smelt, then placed in double burlap bags and hosed down until his transcontinental journey.

"We will put him in a pet carrier, then in a crate to be shipped on a red-eye flight in the cool night air," Paquette said.

I am very happy that I will not behind all this at the securtiy inspection line when the turtle flys. Funny thing is that they will take away your nail clippers but not your 100 pound snapping turtle! But it is nice to see hat the turtle gets the same airline food as the regular pasengers.

[StoneColdGOP]

Actually, it looks like that's what they are going to do anyway.

[SoCal Pubbie]

You didn't miss all that much. The story tells how the lake is being worked on to reduce decaying vegetation at the bottom. The lake is actually a reservoir created in 1916 for irrigation of the nearby Bastanchury Ranch. In fact, my family, old timers in Fullerton, still called it Bastanchury Lake. That's pronounced Bass-in-cherry, not Bast-an-chury, by the way. Talks about how the critter lives, and how they're shipping it back east to a reptile preserve, and chronicles some run ins with "Old Bob" over the years.

[Callahan]

Looks a little like Helen Thomas.

[Cold Heart]

LOL, "same food as regular airline passengers "
I'm flying this weekend

[ErnBatavia]

Hmmm...Orange County....."vicious snapping turtle named "Old Bob" "

[evets]

They make great pets!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Use the following, it works:

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