CARBONDALE -- Greystone the Gorilla is back where he belongs. On Wednesday we aired the story about the stolen statue in Carbondale.
The owner of the 500 pound gorilla said two guys saw the story on Newswatch 16 and realized they spotted that statue in a wooded area used for target practice.
Greystone is a little wounded, but home.
If only Greystone the Gorilla could talk. If the eyes were real and not attached to 500 pounds of lava rock, they would have witnessed quite an ordeal.
He has bullet holes in his stomach, in his back, and in his ears.
All his owner Patty Rudalavage knows is that her big gorilla statue was stolen Sunday, found at a make-shift target range, and now returned to her home in Carbondale.
“I am sad that they used it as target practice because I said yesterday, please don't damage him whatever you do if you're going to keep him, don't damage him. They thought he's just a piece of rock evidently,” said Rudalavage.
Just hours earlier, Patty told us Greystone was much more than rock to her.
We showed you the void in front of her house on Newswatch 16 and the photo of Greystone.
Patty said two guys saw the story, realized they saw the statue at that range in the woods nearby, and brought it home.
“I was up all night last night waiting for somebody to drop him off hoping someone would drop him off and of course they didn't, but when I saw these two guys in the red pickup I thought, 'oh my God they have the gorilla,'" said Rudalavage.
The guys who dropped of the gorilla said they found it in an area off Salem Mountain Road, on the other side of Carbondale in an area used for target practice. Well in this case, Greystone was the target.
The good thing is, Greystone is carved out of rough, solid lava rock so to most people it's hard to see where all the bullets hit.
Patty's just glad the neighborhood mascot is back in one piece.
“I was screaming and then Rose came out, my neighbor, and Delores, my neighbor, was crying,” exclaimed Rudalavage.
“He's like a celebrity here. Even the mailman, my nephew saw the mailman and he said, ‘oh my God he's back,'" added Rudalavage. “If it wasn't for channel 16, WNEP, I don't think we would have ever found him.”
Rudalavage said Wednesday she was offering a $100 reward, but said the guys who dropped off the gorilla didn't accept it.