Alligator on the lam in Philadelphia pond

PHILADELPHIA, May 26 (UPI) -- An alligator spotted in a Philadelphia park pond remained at large after eluding a reptile hunter who found no trace of the creature.

The popular Haddonfield's Hopkins Pond and surrounding park were reopened Friday even though a Boston gator tracker and two Pennsylvania Department of Fish and Wildlife officials found no trace of the 3-foot-plus reptile a county ranger swears he saw in the water May 11.

The sighting comes on the heels of this week's capture of "Reggie," a 6-foot alligator that spent more than a year hanging out in a Los Angeles park.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted the area around Hopkins Pond looked like a crime scene complete with yellow police tape keeping the curious away. Area school officials, too, had sent home warnings to parents to keep their children away from the pond.

"I'm not saying there isn't an animal here," alligator wrangler Michael Ralbovsky, who runs the New England-based Rainforest Reptile Shows, told the Inquirer. "But we need more evidence."