DEDHAM - D.J. Landry saw it. Landry, the first person to report an alligator sighting at The Pits, the old gravel pits off Rustcraft Road, was fishing when he caught his first glimpse.

Now, amid a tidal wave of media coverage, he has come forward to set the record straight: Yes, the mystery reptile that has rocked the latter part of summer in Dedham is an alligator. Yes, he's 100 percent certain.

"He swam by me with a duck in his mouth. He just had the biggest smile on his face," said Landry, a Cedar Street resident who fishes at The Pits almost daily, recalling his first encounter one evening in late July.

"I was freaked out," he said in an interview with the News on Friday. "You don't expect to see something like that in Dedham."

While seeing the broad-snout beast shocked Landry, it also seemed to explain why he'd been unable to catch any fish bigger than a pound or two over the past few months. Landry, who has fished at The Pits for years and always caught bass and sunfish aplenty, figured a snapping turtle was responsible - until the truth paddled by a few feet away from him, flashing that smile.

"I think he's been making the big fish part of his diet," Landry said between drags from a cigarette. He is 34, a customer service representative for the Norwood firm Micromedia. "And if you look around, you don't see ducks anymore, do you?"

Because alligator possession is illegal in Massachusetts, Landry suspects the reptile is a pet bought out-of-state and abandoned after it grew too big for the owner to handle.

Since he first saw it, Landry said he has seen the creature three more times, including Wednesday.

"The last few times have been at night and he's stayed in the middle of the pond," he said. "But when I shine a flashlight on the water, I can see his eyes, these two little glowing yellow orbs."

Landry, as it turns out, is an animal enthusiast who's no stranger to reptiles. He has owned them as pets and even worked for several years at the old Debby's Pet Land in Dedham.

There, his co-workers included Mark Vogel, the Animal Rescue League ambulance driver who has investigated the gator sightings in conjunction with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Landry said he decided to come forward because last week's media coverage contained inaccurate speculation, such as suggestions that the pond creature is a crocodile, a cayman or some mythical monster.

"I didn't really want to make a big deal about it, but then it was on all the news and I said, 'I've got to set the record straight,' " said Landry, whose pets currently include a pair of 6-foot-long boa constrictors.

"I've been with reptiles my whole life. It's not a crocodile, an iguana, a Loch Ness monster or any of the other things people have been saying. I know what an alligator looks like. This is definitely an alligator."

Contrary to reports that the alligator was spotted at Little Wigham Pond or at the pond adjacent to the parking lot at the American Red Cross, Landry said, the toothy creature makes his home at a larger pond on the other side of the railroad tracks that bisect The Pits.

It's a picturesque place. The water is rimmed with greenery. Rope swings that kids use to swing into the water hang from a few of the taller trees.

"It doesn't have a name. It never has. We call it No Fish Pond because there's no fish over there," he said, pointing in the direction of the smaller pond that has attracted a legion of gator chasers.

Landry is amused at the breadth of media interest in his discovery, but dislikes how the attention has transformed the character of his favorite fishing spot.

"I liked to fish down here because you could just hang out with your friends and have some peace and quiet. Now there are all these people stumbling around trying to catch the alligator," he sighed. "They bring steak knives and set up all sorts of homemade contraptions."

Landry has cut down several such traps.

"An everyday person shouldn't be trying to handle this," he said. "I come down here to take a look, but I'm not trying to catch him. I'm hoping the professionals get their hands on him before somebody else does.

"I just hope he's found because if he's left in there, he's either killed or dies in the cold of winter," he concluded. "That would be a damn shame."

• Story originally published by:
MetroWest Daily News, Boston / MA | Peter Hartzel - Aug 26.02

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