Before Grumpy Cat, Doug the Pug and P-22 became viral animal celebrities, there was Reggie the alligator.

Reggie first appeared in Los Angeles’ Lake Machado in 2005, drawing hundreds of people to the shore, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious reptile.

LA Times staff writer Corinne Purtill wrote about where Reggie is now, 15 years after his capture. Purtill joined host Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today.”

When Reggie was first spotted in Lake Machado in 2005, he quickly became a sensation.

“This was also pre-camera phone,” Purtill said. “So if you said you thought you saw an alligator in the park, people would think you were nuts. But finally, in August of 2005, the alligator crawled out of the lake and started sunning itself, and it was undisputedly an alligator. And obviously, this brought a lot of attention to this park. The city immediately built a fence around the whole perimeter. But then after that, nobody really seemed to know what to do.”

The city reached out to alligator wranglers to capture Reggie. One of those people was Steven Irwin, who passed away before he could attempt to retrieve the gator. Reggie was finally captured in the summer of 2007.

“After about a year and a half, the alligator surfaced again. At that point, he crawled up onto the bank of the lake, and a team was ready to go,” Purtill said. “A couple guys from the Parks and Rec Department, led by Ian Recchio, the chief reptile curator at the LA Zoo, tackled Reggie in as kind of manner as possible. [They] were able to restrain his head, tie up his snout, and then put him in a caravan and took him to the LA Zoo.”

Shortly after Reggie was brought to the zoo, he made an escape attempt but was quickly returned to his enclosure. Alligators can live up to 80 years in captivity, so Reggie is expected to be at the zoo for another 50 years.

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.

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