Reason #247 why I love Arizona

Tempe Town Lake is a lake in a desert. They walled off some of the Salt River with big rubber bladders and made a lake. It was pretty and they made a park next to it and built some condos and all that. The lake is neat and I've been to some cool events at the park. I don't know if I would think, "Hey, let's build a lake in the desert" and call it a good idea, but it seems to have worked out well for Tempe. At least until recently.

A few nights ago, one of those bladders went boom and all the water in Tempe Town Lake went down the Salt River. Well, Tempe Town Lake was stocked with fish. Some were put in there intentionally, but I'm sure more than a few goldfish were liberated there at the end of a semester at ASU.

Either way, these fish are now homeless in a very, very bad way. A lack of water tends to be bad for a fish's health.

Other cities would probably be looking to rescue the fish. Trying to find them foster homes in abandoned backyard pools (which wouldn't entirely suck as they'd eat the mosquito larvae and we'd have less West Nile.) There would be activists with nets and buckets and pleas for generous donors to allow the carp and rainbow trout to use a spare bathtub for a while.

Nope, not here. Not Arizona. We're bringing in the alligators.

Ok, not really. They're not setting alligators loose in the mud that was once Tempe Town Lake. It's a shame because I'd pay money to watch that. But they are collecting the fish and donating them to the Phoenix Herpetological Society.

Circle of life, baby.

The alligator was unavailable for comment.

(Photo by KTAR/Kevin Tripp)