Reggie the alligator.

Los Angeles ? A 6 1/2-foot alligator believed to be the elusive “Reggie” who lurked in a park lake for two years was captured Thursday in a wrestling match with a reptile expert and rangers.

Several would-be gator wranglers have failed to remove the wily Reggie since the reptile was first spotted in 2005. The animal then managed to disappear for 18 months until being sighted again at the end of April.

On Thursday, the alligator came out of Harbor Regional Park’s Lake Machado and was spotted on land about 3:30 p.m. – just as city and park officials and wildlife experts were meeting nearby to find a way to capture the nonnative reptile.

The cold-blooded creature was sunning itself in an area fenced in several days ago in hopes of corralling it. Park officials closed a gate, and Los Angeles Zoo reptile expert Ian Recchio was able to put a hook around its neck.

“Then one guy laid on top of him. He was thrashing around, so four or five guys held his head and tail to get him contained. They managed to put duct tape around his mouth,” City Councilwoman Janice Hahn said.

Firefighters strapped the alligator to a board and loaded it into an animal control truck for transport to the zoo. A police car escorted the truck as news helicopters followed and broadcast the trip live.

The zoo planned to keep Reggie in quarantine from 30 to 60 days and then eventually introduce the animal to other alligators.

Reggie was an illegal pet allegedly tossed into the 50-acre lake by a former policeman when it got too big.