A First for These Old Eyes

[loracs]

 As I was driving home from work today, I saw something I have never seen before outside of a cartoon.  On a street lined with apartment buildings, only 5 blocks from the main street in downtown Oakland, California I watched a man walk a crocodile on a leash.  The croc was in a high walk position, just grooving on the 80 degree weather, taking in the sights. Can you housebreak a reptile?  Did the owner carry a "poop scoop" bag?  They we're headed in the direction of a McDonald's only a 1/2 block away; perhaps they were heading out for an early dinner.  Is is even legal to keep a croc this size as a pet? 

Seriously, if this guy was walking the croc in his neighborhood, then he had to live in an apartment or condo because he was maybe 15 blocks away from the nearest single family house.  This was not a tiny little lizard either; I estimate 3 to 4 feet long.  I even looked around for the tell-tale white trailers of a movie shoot.  Downtown Oakland and around Lake Merritt have been used a fair amount for location shots.  We had an elephant in the lake years ago for a scene in a movie (I think it was "Made in America" with Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson.)  The crocodile was only a couple of blocks from the lake, so maybe he was an "actor" on a "walkie" during a break.  But no, there was nothing to point in this direction, so I'm left with a man and his pet just out for a walk.  

File this under weird, but true.

Comments

*giggles*

[tracytreefrog.livejournal.com]

That is a good way to start the day! Thanks for the visual.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

This makes me happy!

[merujo.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. This is a fabulous image to hold in my head today. :)

Once, I was sitting on my balcony in Moscow when a woman came by and called up to me, asking what time it was. She was carrying what I thought was a toddler. She and the "child" had matching blue bows in their hair. Then the toddler turned its face to me and I realized it was a baboon. No leash. Dressed like a child.

So weird.

[loracs.livejournal.com]

Weird, indeed, but at least I could see myself cuddling a warm-blooded hairy creature. When it comes to cold-blooded, leathery skinned creatures - not in my bed, thank you very much!

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Odd and great image.

However, these are the wackos, that wind up filling zoos with their "pets", or worse, whose pets end up maiming or killing them or others. The Oakland zoo has two lions that some asshat thought would make good pets. Yeah, not so much.