Tuesday 13 December 2011

London 2012 Olympics: British Waterways play down reports of Olympic Park 'crocodile' - telegraph.co.uk

13 December 2011


Officials believe that a report of a 16lb Canada goose being attacked in the river by an alligator or a giant snake may instead be the work of a large pike, rather than a predator.
A local man, Mike Wells, claimed to have seen the attack from his boat and believed it was the same beast that savaged a goose six years ago, which at the time was feared to be an alligator or giant turtle because of large burrows in the river bank.
"The bird just went vertically down. I was gobsmacked. There was no sign of what took it, but it was obviously pretty big," Wells said of the latest incident.
Officials said they would be interested in talking to any witnesses, especially people who may have video or photographic shots of any of the wildlife being attacked.
But British Waterways said they had no information confirming the existence of a predator on the Olympic site since 2005.
"Our workers would have reported large tunnels in the banks and we have never been made aware of any such large holes," a spokeswoman said.
"We don't believe there is a crocodile in the Lea. The potential culprits could be a large pike or a mink which have been known to go for goslings.
"Or sometimes terrapins get abandoned and they can grow to be a dinner plate size, but really none of them are particularly likely to attack a goose."
A spokesperson for the London organising committee for the Olympic Games said they had no record of any sightings of beasts in the Olympic Park.

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