The things I learned about snakes living on the shores of Lake Springfield while reporting on this story make me want to, well, stay away from Lake Springfield.
This was a fun distraction from crime reporting. They never did find the monster snake.
Snake in the lake / Unusual sighting intrigues officials, experts
June 25, 2007Rumor has it, there’s sssomething suspicious ssswimming in Lake Ssspringfield.
But experts don’t believe there’s any reason to be alarmed.
In April, a woman who lives near Lake Springfield snapped a very Loch Ness-quality photo of what appears to be a large, yellow-colored snake in the water near the rocky shoreline.
The photo shows the snake’s head sticking out of the water and its body beneath.
Rumors have been swirling about the photo and exactly what kind of serpent is pictured. Some have speculated it is a python, but most seem to believe it is some kind of water snake that lives in the lake.
No one else has seen the snake, or at least had the presence of mind to take a photo if they did. As a result, City Water, Light and Power officials have no way of determining if the snake is something one would expect to find in Lake Springfield, or if it is something that doesn’t belong there.
Even snake experts are puzzled, mainly because there are only two photographs and the quality of them is too poor to make a positive identification.
“It’s tough. I really can’t tell what it is,” said Chris Phillips, a snake expert with the Illinois Natural History Survey in Champaign. Several people have e-mailed the photos to him, and officials at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Department of Transportation have asked him for his opinion on the Lake Springfield serpent.
Phillips ruled out the common water snake that is abundant in the lake. Lake Springfield is home to numerous northern water snakes, which have light gray or tan backs, brown crossbands and light yellow bellies. They commonly are seen basking on rocks or foraging in the water.
CWLP officials on Friday said they think it might be a yellowbelly or diamondback water snake.
But Phillips said a yellowbelly water snake is unlikely because that’s a southern snake that doesn’t come north except along the Mississippi River.
A diamondback snake still is a possibility, but no one can see the snake’s dorsal pattern in the photographs to confirm it.
There is one other possibility that hasn’t been ruled out – that someone released an exotic snake into Lake Springfield.
“When I first thought it might be a water snake, then people started saying python,” Phillips said. “I wasn’t even thinking of released pets until someone brought up that possibility. The photos I saw were so blurry, it wasn’t possible to make any kind of a call, even between something like one of our native water snakes and a python.”
CWLP workers have been keeping their eyes peeled for the elusive snake.
“We aren’t concerned, but we just want to get it out of there” if it doesn’t belong in the lake, said CWLP spokesman Ray Serati.
Steve Frank, one of the city’s lake managers, said officials have not activated a full-blown search for the reptile because no one else has seen it or reported anything odd. City employees who work at the lake have been asked to document any unusual snakes.
“If it’s a large snake that we can find, we’d definitely like to get it out of there if possible. If it’s one of the regular water snakes that hang around out there, those can be difficult to find,” he said.
“There’s been no positive ID on this, so we’re just looking. We take all our calls seriously, but we don’t have a lot to go on out there.”
Michelle Bodamer Nicol, another CWLP lake manager, said the snakes that commonly live in Lake Springfield are not venomous and are nothing to be scared of.
If anyone spots a large snake that looks like the one in the photographs, they are urged to take a clear photo and send it to CWLP. Having something in the photo to determine scale would be helpful as well, officials said.
Photos can be e-mailed to michelle.nicol@cwlp.com.