Alligator remains found by dog walker in Huddersfield

Nov 12 2009 By Sam Casey

Alligator parts found by dog walker in Huddersfield

A MAN walking his dogs on a patch of Crosland Moor scrubland got the shock of his life – when he stumbled over a severed alligator head.

The skull and a section of the reptile’s jaw were discovered by painter and decorator Peter Lumb while he walked his two border collies in Crosland Moor.

They were checked out by experts at Manchester Museum and were found to belong to a beast which would probably have measured about six feet from nose to tail.

Marks at the back of the skull suggest the animal’s head had been sawn off the rest of the body, probably after it died.

Remnants of skin indicated it had probably not been there long before Mr Lumb found it.

No other body parts were found on the patch of scrubland off Deep Lane.

The search is now on to discover where the remains came from. ŠŠMr Lumb, 59, of Battye Avenue in Crosland Moor, said: “It’s a bit of a shock.

“We thought it was an alligator or a crocodile because it doesn’t look like a cow or a fox or a badger.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before.

“It’s a mystery.”

Mr Lumb was walking dogs Penny and Ryka in the field when he noticed something strange on the ground.

He said: “I looked at the jaw bone and thought, that looks funny.

“Then I saw the skull.

“I brought the jaw bone home and my wife Linda said, ‘It’s not an animal from round here. It looks like a crocodile.’

“I went back the next day and got the skull and she said it was definitely a crocodile.”

The couple gave the bones to their daughter, Catherine, who lives in Stalybridge and works as lead educator at Manchester Museum. She passed them on to colleague Rebecca Machin, curatorial assistant of natural environments.

Miss Machin said: “As soon as I had a look at it I knew it was an alligator.