Kobe The Alligator Surfaces

by Thaddeus Flint
Kobe, the alligator missing since August 21 in New Lebanon, has been found and is now home safe and sound.
[private]The alligator disappeared from the home of Rhonda Leavitt, located near Mill Road and Route 20. Kobe is 39 inches long and weighs around 16 pounds. Leavitt, who runs a wildlife sanctuary, first thought that Kobe had escaped from his cage after a cleaning.   However, after searches found no trace of the reptile, the investigation had started to lean towards the possibility that Kobe had been stolen.
According to Town Animal Control Officer Wes Powell Wednesday, “The whole thing is still suspicious.”
There had been one person of interest in the investigation.  Strangely this person was also the one who “walked up [Leavitt’s] driveway and said that he might have seen an alligator in the pond,” said Powell.
The pond is a beaver dam on a stream  near the old railroad tracks where this person was supposedly fishing.  “Of course he didn’t have a fishing pole,” observed Powell.
Leavitt followed up on the sighting and saw Kobe in the night on September 4.  Alligators’ eyes will glow in the dark when a light shines on them.  Instead of waiting for a kayak, Leavitt jumped in and managed to capture the missing gator.
Powell said he had searched that area previously and felt that it is unlikely that he missed Kobe there before. One theory is that Kobe was dumped when the State Police were called in to investigate a possible gator-napping.
A reward that quickly climbed to $850 was not claimed.  Leavitt has now installed a video security system on her property to prevent future reptile-nappings.[/private]