Last week Hardwood Floors wrote about an unusual abode-a Pennsylvania house that is home to 11 alligators that lounge in black ponds on top of the home's hardwood floors. After the story the alligators' owner, John Boyko, contacted HF to let us know that some of the alligators are in dire need of medical help after a group of boys broke into the home and stoned the animals. Two of the alligators need to be medivacked from Pennylvania to a clinic in Wisconsin with a veterinarian capable of doing the necessary surgeries, and Boyko is looking for a corporate sponsor to pay the $4,000 medivac cost. The donation would be tax-deductible, as transportation will be provided by Cloud Nine Rescue Flights, which is a non-profit 513(c)(3) organization.
But the real benefit, Boyko, says, is the media attention the sponsor will receive. "This would be national coverage; I'm going to push for CNN and everything, because who the heck has ever medivacked alligators?" Boyko asks. While that plan may sound grandiose, Boyko knows a thing or two about media coverage: The New York Times has written about him twice and he has been included on Animal Planet's "Top 10 Weird Exotic Pet Stories." His goal, he says, is to eventually get a reality show. "What I would love to do is Extreme Home Makeover Alligator-Style," he says, "Take a home and off the back end do a greenhouse with water features and plantings."
In the meantime his ailing gators will remain at their Pennsylvania home with its abused wood floors. And about those wood floors? "The house was a foreclosed home, and the floors were really beat up, so I didn't feel too bad about letting the gators beat up the floors," he says.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the gators should call Boyko at (203) 257-0581.
