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Key West's doubtful guest

Sightings of a rare American crocodile loitering near the beaches cause some anxiety among swimmers.

KEY WEST - A rare American crocodile seen loitering near this town's beaches has caused some anxious moments for swimmers and officials.

The Casa Marina Resort closed its beach Monday after the crocodile was seen under its pier, one day after waters off Fort Zachary Taylor State Park were closed to swimmers for several hours when the crocodile was seen there.

Unlike alligators, American crocodiles are docile and there are no documented reports of any attacking humans, federal wildlife officials said. But local officials didn't want to take any chances.

Darren and Michelle Kenyon of Cape Coral saw the 5- to 6-foot crocodile as they were swimming toward a small rock island. They stayed on the island awhile, afraid of trying to swim to shore.

"We wanted to make sure he was not swimming at us," Darren Kenyon said. "We have seen a lot of gators, but never any crocodiles."

They finally got tired of waiting for the crocodile to go away and made an anxious dash to shore.

"We couldn't stay out there all day," Darren Kenyon said.

Rangers couldn't recall seeing a crocodile at the park before. This one apparently was catching small bait fish.

Because American crocodiles are classified as an endangered species, state wildlife officials told police it could not be captured and moved, as an alligator normally would be.

Florida's American crocodile population has been monitored for many years and has grown from fewer than 300 to between 500 and 1,000. The nesting range has expanded on Florida's east and west coasts since the species was listed, records show.

Federal officials have proposed reclassifying the American crocodile from endangered to the less dire status of threatened in the Florida range.

[Last modified August 23, 2005, 04:40:12]