CHICAGO _ The bulk of the $33,649 cost for the weeklong effort to trap an alligator in Humboldt Park Lagoon came from city workers having to put up and remove barricades to keep people away from the lagoon, with $2,500 going to the man who trapped the alligator, according to information released by Chicago officials to the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday.
The male, 5-foot-3 alligator, weighing 30 to 40 pounds, was captured July 16. Alligator trapper Frank Robb was brought in from Florida to replace a volunteer trapper who had spent several days trying to catch the alligator after it was first spotted on July 9.
According to an emailed summary of the costs released by the city's office of Animal Care and Control following a Tribune public records request, the costs included:
_ Labor costs of $14,917 and equipment costs of $7,925 for Department of Streets and Sanitation workers to put in and take out fencing and barricades.
_ Overtime of $6,140 for Animal Care and Control officers.
_ A fee of $2,500 and $2,166 in travel and lodging expenses for Robb.
Chicago police and the Chicago Park District did not incur any extra costs because of the search, according to the email.
After the alligator, dubbed Chance the Snapper, was caught it was flown to a Florida animal preserve. The flight to Florida didn't cost anything, because it was paid for by the preserve, according to the email.
In total, five animal control employees worked more than 90 hours of overtime while the alligator was loose. An animal control officer was with Robb the night the alligator was caught.
The capture was the culmination of a weeklong quest for the exotic animal, presumed to be a pet that someone abandoned in the West Side lagoon.
After a volunteer trapper failed to capture the alligator, the city reached out to Robb "due to the possible threat to public safety at the Chicago Park District," said Kelley Gandurski, director of Chicago Animal Care and Control in an email to another city official.
In an email sent to Gandurski, Robb said he would work to capture the alligator for two days.
"This is not a guarantee but I am very confident in what I do," Robb said in the email. "I will bring my own equipment and gear and will catch the animal alive."
Robb did exactly that.
Officials started searching for the alligator July 9 after people began sharing photos of it on social media and someone called the city. Robb arrived in Chicago on July 14. The alligator was captured two days later.
