But even with precautions, things went sideways that morning.
Students walking past Alex’s aluminum enclosure on the school lawn around 11 a.m. noticed that the 2-year-old, 14-inch gator was missing.
“Somebody said, ‘Hey, you didn’t bring an alligator this year,’” said Smith, who wasn’t at the event but learned about the incident from an employee.
“A quick search was done around the area, but Alex had disappeared,” he said. “We do thousands of these petting zoos, and we’d never had anything like this happen before.”
School administrators alerted the KC Pet Project — the nonprofit that runs animal control services for Kansas City — and six officers responded to search for the missing alligator, said Tori Fugate, chief communications officer for the agency. Several firefighters also assisted with the search, she said.
“They looked all around the middle school and the grounds, which were densely populated with brush and trees,” Fugate said. “The fire department even brought a drone out to look for any movement.”
The hunt for Alex continued until 6:30 that night, but there was no sign of him, she said, noting that the search crew also checked area creek beds the next day with no luck.
The Park Hill School District alerted Lakeview parents that the alligator was missing, and updates were posted on Facebook about the search. KC Pet Project also posted about it, and local news outlets hurried to the school to report there was a gator on the run.
Residents were worried how he’d survive wandering around Kansas City with a taped snout.
“People were concerned about their young children and pets, but they were also worried that the animal couldn’t eat or drink or defend itself and might be harmed by hawks or large dogs and bobcats,” Fugate said.
Families living near the school put up signs advising people to watch for the gator, and everyone in the area searched their backyards, she said. But with no sightings or leads, animal service workers decided to suspend their search after five days, on May 28.
People on social media vented their frustration about the alligator’s disappearance.
“It absolutely breaks my heart that its mouth was taped shut,” one woman commented on KC Pet Project’s Facebook post. “Even if the gator is found alive, I can’t imagine the pain of ripping the tape off.”
“Avoidable suffering. I do not like gators, at all … but I don’t want to know of one suffering. Sad,” another person posted.
Smith said he thinks that Alex did not escape on his own, even though the school district shared a teacher’s photo that showed Alex poking his head through a gap in his enclosure shortly before he went missing.
“We go to a lot of schools, and our enclosures are specifically built so the animals cannot get out,” Smith said. “So I believe someone had to have taken that animal out.”
Kelly Wachel, chief communications officer for the Park Hill School District, disputed that theory, saying school employees reviewed video footage from the day and did not see anything that indicated someone took the animal out.
As the days ticked by, she and others came to the assumption that the gator probably hadn’t survived.
Then on June 3 — the first day of summer school — a custodian at the middle school spotted something moving near the back door as she took out the morning trash. It was Alex, still wearing the electrical tape that had been wrapped around his snout 11 days before.
“Somebody put the alligator in a box and took him to the office until animal control could come out,” Wachel said. “Everyone was thrilled he’d finally been found.”
The tape was removed from Alex’s snout, and the gator is at the KC Pet Project shelter while animal control officers complete an investigation, said Fugate. The group posted a notice on Facebook that Alex had been found, which said: “We are conducting our investigation on where the alligator has been since it went missing.”
Fugate pointed out that Lakeview Middle School didn’t have a permit from the city’s animal services division to hold the petting zoo. Wachel said administrators were unaware they needed one and added that they’d get one in the future if they have another petting zoo.
For now, Alex has a private room at the animal shelter, with a little pool to hang out in and plenty of fish to eat, Fugate said.
“We wondered if we’d ever see this little alligator again, so we’re very happy that he’s alive,” she said.
Although the gator appears to be healthy, Alex is in the process of getting a thorough exam, she said.
After that, Smith said he hopes to get the alligator back.
“I’m relieved he’s alive — he looks great in the photos I’ve seen,” he said. “However it all happened, I’m glad he’s been found.”
