Three separate recent sightings of Lassie – the Laguna de Santa Rosa resident plesiosaur-like reptilian creature have rekindled debate on the existence of this elusive enigma.

15th January 2009 A resident of the of the Fircrest Mobile Home Park took five pictures of what he described as a 4 feet high head and neck at 6pm when he was walking his dogs by the Laguna. He said he saw a long neck with a creepy head come out of the water. He had time to run to the house, get his camera, and return to take the pictures. Previously a non-believer, he was quoted as saying” At first, I thought my Mother –in-Law was coming out of the Laguna at me, but then I realized that the slimy dark green and silvery creature could only have been Lassie so I called the police”. He was later ticketed for having his dogs unleashed in the Laguna. To see photos, please go to: the laguna de Santa Rosa

9th January 2009 A retired winery salesman reported seeing a “smallish yet quite large monster” move slowly through a small pond near Todd road. The creature then got out of the water and gambled across a field towards the main channel of the Laguna. He poured out the rest of his wine and is now trying to remain sober.

11th December 2008 Mr. Bell and his family from Graton watched what they described as the head of a large animal move through the channel at 6pm in the evening. The family, who were on the veranda of a holiday lodge at the time, said that the head was larger than that of a cow and was about 1/3 of the way across the channel. Regular visitors to the area, they were convinced it was not a dog or wave movement that they had seen.

Recent theories suggest these plausible explainations:
a. Bogus sightings are a clever ploy as part of the Sebastopol Economic Stimulus Package - hoping to dupe Bay Area tourists into traveling up to Sebastopol to glean a rare sighting of this unusual creature. Which really, isn’t such a bad idea, what with the economy so terrible…shop local and all that.

b. Mutation of a Nile Crocodile – due to runoffs from chemical applications from too many vineyards being planted where old growth oaks or gravenstein apple orchards used to be. An embarrassment to many, is the ongoing problem of Nile crocodiles in the Laguna de Santa Rosa . “If they would just go over to the Santa Rosa side and stay there, we wouldn’t care” States one of the newer Sebastopol city council member who wished to remain anonymous

c. Just a rotten log or some trash that keeps floating around. The Laguna is kind of a wreck, and nobody is out there doing anything but whining about pepper weed and encroachments. Get off your butt and go help clean up the Laguna.

d. Birders, concerned about the destruction of wetland habitat (and rightfully so) have created this mythological nightmare, to scare folks away from dilly-dallying about in the wetlands.

e. It is true. Oh-MY-Gawd, this is really true and totally freaky. What a crazy universe we live in!