The alligator found in Longview Lake in June will live out its days at Monkey Island Rescue in Greenwood, Missouri. There, it will be housed with another alligator of similar size, according to Heather Kennedy, KC Pet Project’s chief veterinarian.
The four-foot-long American alligator, dubbed “Longview Lou” by Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota, was captured from the banks of Longview Lake on the afternoon of June 25. The chase started the previous day after reports and social media posts about an alligator swimming near the marina at Longview Lake, according to Matt Keeney, who manages Animal Services for Kansas City’s Neighborhood Services Department.
Kansas City had already received several 311 calls before Jackson County officials contacted the city’s Neighborhood Services Department on June 24 and confirmed the presence of an alligator. After notifying the Missouri Department of Conservation, Kansas City and Jackson County began strategizing the capture. Their best shot was to use a boat and a searchlight to search for the alligator at night, Keeney said.
Just as officials, rangers and wranglers started meeting up at Longview Lake Park, a local fisherman and “good Samaritan” called park rangers. The fisherman notified them of the alligator’s location on the shore.
After a brief chase into the woods, the alligator was apprehended by Alec Giglio, who Keeney called the team’s “expert wrangler.” String was used to secure the alligator’s snout before he was put in a cage and transferred to the care of KC Pet Project staff at the Kansas City Campus for Animal Care.
“All told, it was probably 45 minutes or so from when we arrived before we had managed to capture the alligator, which was very, very fortuitous,” Keeney said.
Longview Lou has spent the past week in a makeshift habitat at KCCAC with a kiddie pool, a heat lamp, and regular check-ins from veterinary staff. The KC Pet Project team even had help from a volunteer veterinarian with extensive experience in crocodilian species.
Lou was found to be in relatively good shape, Keeney said. The lab even conducted x-rays of the reptile and discovered the remnants of bird bones in his stomach — evidence the alligator was staying well fed, Keeney added.
Levota had a fun week with Longview Lou on social media. On Facebook, the Jackson County Executive posted updates, jokes and even a proposal to move Longview Lou into the alligator habitat at the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium. Zoo communications officers later told media outlets they had no room to accommodate the wayfaring reptile.
Then, arrangements were made at Monkey Island in Greenwood, a facility that houses another alligator of similar size. Longview Lou was loaded up and left Kansas City just before press time on July 1.
“We were excited to send him off to meet his new friend,” Kennedy told the Telegraph.
