Alligator looking for a good home
Sunday, October 09, 2005 - by Jennifer Zilko

Anchorage, Alaska - Adopting a pet can be a big responsibility, but if you adopt an alligator, that's an understatement.

Maria vonKoehnen from Alaska Reptile Rescue knows all about it. She took in Sadie, a 23 pound, five foot long alligator because her previous owner could no longer care for her. Now, Sadie needs a home where she can be loved and cared for properly, but she's not your typical household pet. Her owner says she doesn't do any tricks and isn't very good on a leash.

vonKoehnen says Sadie likes hot baths, so a home with a big bathtub is a plus.

'See you later, alligator,' more than a saying for Muldoon family

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - by Angela Unruh

Anchorage, Alaska - For nearly six years, one Alaska family has taken in the unwanted, those who just didn't seem to fit anywhere else -- and they've never asked for help, until now. They've run out of room and are looking for a good home for a 7-year-old named Sadie.

From the outside, the VonKoehnen's home is like any other in this Muldoon neighborhood. But from the inside, there’s evidence that this family has helped many.

“They call it the Muldoon zoo. I just call it the zoo annex,” said Maria VonKoehnen of Alaska Reptile Rescue.

The 1,800-square-foot home is the headquarters for the Alaska Reptile Rescue, and it is packed to the brim. An entire bedroom is reserved for the snakes alone -- and for good reason.

“Belinda's 14 and a half feet and 130 pounds,” said VonKoehnen. VonKoehnen spends $300 a week caring for seven snakes, five iguanas, three dogs, two cats, a tortoise, mouse, a fish and Sadie. At 23 pounds and nearly five feet long, Sadie the alligator loves to be around people.

“She loves to be held. She likes to be pet. She loves to take a bath. Her favorite thing in the whole world is to take a nice hot bath for roughly about two hours,” said VonKoehnen (below).

Sadie has free roam of the house, and the other 20 family members don't seem to mind, although a muzzle provides a little safety insurance. She wound up here because no one else wanted her.

“The gal who had her for a year and a half, almost two years, could not keep her any longer because she has small children in the home now. And American alligators and small children just don't get along real well,” said VonKoehnen.

Although Sadie fits in well at the VonKoehnen home, they've run out of room.

“It's not that I can't take care of her, I can take care of her and I love her to death, but she's a very high liability in my house because we do reptile rescue. We have snakes, obviously, we have iguanas, we have a tortoise, we have dogs, we have cats,” said VonKoehnen.

So if you know the ins and outs of alligators and could keep Sadie for the next 50 years, your home could be the final stop of a long journey for this Alaskan alligator. Call the Alaska Reptile Rescue at 248-4419 to adopt Sadie.

VonKoehnen is working with Rep. Harry Crawford to try to outlaw certain reptiles from Alaska. House Bill 159 was introduced last year, but nothing happened. So VonKoehnen is speaking out, hoping to bring attention to this bill. She says people buy these creatures and give up on them too easily, giving them no place to go. She says it's not fair for the creatures, so she wants it to stop.