Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Clem the alligator’s life on the run ends with capture by volunteers

Clem the alligator's tale as a wild-west desperado has come to an end.

The 8-foot, 3-inch alligator that had holed up on federal land outside the Grand Canyon was captured by a posse of volunteers from the Phoenix Herpetological Society.

Clem lived in desert springs in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument for a couple of decades.

He was released into the wild by the previous owner of a private ranch about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The owner sold the land and the alligator to the federal government in 2002, and since then the Bureau of Land Management has been trying to ascertain whether reports of Clem's existence were real or imagined.

In April, photos of a couple of alligator eyes floating amid the algae and weeds in the small, naturally heated pools at Pakoon Springs, along with the distinctive tracks of the reptile, indicated the alligator was in fact real.

While the alligator was loose, the hot springs were off limits for potential visitors. The federal agency asked for help from the herpetological society, which runs a sanctuary outside of Scottsdale, Ariz., for reptiles, particularly alligators, that have been abandoned by their owners.

Alligators are not native to the desert southwest and it is illegal in Arizona to own one of the reptiles.

Russ Johnson, society president, said Clem was feisty but severely underweight when they found him caught in one of the society's snares Tuesday night. The alligator was about 125 pounds but should have been twice that, he said.

Clem was once fed by the Pakoon Springs owner, but since then has probably subsisted on a sparse diet of bullfrogs and perhaps the occasional rabbit.

"We have our work cut out for us to fatten him up," Johnson said.

David Boyd, a BLM spokesman, said the capture of the alligator ends a problem for both Clem and the public.

"It's been kind of a lingering mystery out there for a long time now," Boyd said. "It was a public safety concern."

The main concern was for the safety of the public, particularly because the former owner of the springs used to feed the animal, so Clem could associate people with food. Or as food.

The capture is better for Clem as well.

"He hasn't had much to eat over the last couple of years, but he weathered the capture fine, no injuries," Boyd said. "Otherwise, he's a survivor."

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