IRWIN'S PASSING FELT IN L.A.'S DEEP.

Byline: Mariel Garza

IT'S always sad when people larger than life die an untimely death in pursuit of their life's work. And that's why we writers have spilled plenty of ink exploring the life, death and videoed last minutes of Steve Irwin, the Aussie ``Crocodile Hunter'' of TV's ``Animal Planet'' fame who was stabbed in the heart by a stringray over the Labor Day weekend.

But what many don't realize is that this is a loss for Los Angeles way beyond the choice of quality cable programming. If not for that stingray, Irwin might well have become a local legend as the man who captured Reggie, the outlaw alligator living (we think!) in the depths of Lake Machado.

Reggie, you may recall, was the 7-foot prehistoric-looking beast dumped into the lake by a former Los Angeles police officer and a buddy last summer. They were arrested and charged with the crime, but the gator remains on the lam.

Irwin and his ``Animal Planet'' crew were quietly helping the city capture Reggie. He had personally visited at the height of Reggie-mania last fall, when various self-styled alligator wranglers vied to be the one who caught the monster before someone got hurt or, eek, eaten up.

Several gator sightings kept hope alive that Reggie would be caught, and soon. But as alligators do, Reggie went into a style of hibernation for the winter, and the alligators hunters went home.

Irwin promised at the time to return to L.A. in the spring when Reggie came out of hibernation. But Reggie never did.

It's not even clear if Reggie is still in the murk of Lake Machado. There have been just a few unconfirmed sightings, but that's it.

``We brought in wildlife experts early on to see if there was any indication if the alligator was still there,'' said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the city's parks department. ``We had conflicting reports.''

There are some culverts he could have used to escape, Mukri said. If he's still around, it could be that this year's weird weather -- a winter that jumped directly into full-on summer -- might have confused the alligator.

Irwin's crew, however, believed Reggie was still afoot. The city Parks Department and Councilwoman Janice Hahn, in whose district the lake sits, kept in regular contact with Irwin's people. In early spring, Irwin's crew came back to L.A. and inspected the lake from the shores and from the water. They didn't see the alligator himself, but Mukri said the crew noticed things, like possible nests, that led them to believe that Reggie was still in the area. Just laying low.

They were to return for the full gator extraction as soon as the scaly head surfaced. But now the hope of the great Crocodile Hunter rescuing L.A. from its weird predicament is dashed. Yay!

Again, it's sad that Irwin is dead. From all accounts, he was a super guy whose contribution to the conservation and understanding of animals puts him on par with Charles Darwin and Dr. Doolittle. But with Earth's most famous animal wrangler out of the way, it's a little like the legend of Reggie just got a stay of execution.

Last year, I suggested that Los Angeles might benefit from giving in to the trick of fate and dubbing Lake Machado ``Lake Gator.'' The initial media attention stirred up the park's attendance by people hoping for a glimpse of Reggie. Surely many of them would have liked to commemorate the event with T-shirt and stuffed gator at the Lake Reggie gift shop.

Still, for safety's sake, authorities still consider Reggie to be an unwelcome squatter. And I understand the realities of keeping people eaters away from people trumps some whimsical marketing ploy. Toward that end, the tape put up last year to keep people from venturing to the water's edge -- and straight into Reggie's gaping maw -- remains in place for the indefinite future.

Although Reggie is an outlaw, the city plans to take him alive if he ever turns up, Mukri said. If and when that happens, he will be taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for quarantine, where he might get to stay for good. Mukri says the zoo doesn't have a particular need for more alligators, but would make an exception for such a legendary creature as Reggie. And why not? No matter where he came from, he's an Angeleno now. He deserves to stay.

RIP Irwin. Long live Reggie.