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Gatorland
The Alligator Capital of the World
By Patti Shenberger
By now we had worked up a ferocious appetite and headed over to try the gator nuggets. (Yes, they taste just like chicken.) You can sample gator ribs, gator nuggets or old-fashioned American favorites. Some of the alligators raised at Gatorland are done so for the express purpose of harvesting their meat for food.
After eating lunch, we headed up to the front of Gatorland to watch the handlers feed the alligators. Wow, what a sight that was! The handlers literally stand over the enclosure, calling "Here gator, gator," slapping a slab of meat on the water's surface to encourage the gators to come in close. And do they ever!
They rush to the handler and snatch the food from his hand. A feeding frenzy occurs as you watch gator after gator throw themselves at the meat. You can hear the alligators bellowing as they leap for the food. The handler has a tether line attached to his waist so he can't fall in the water with the gators, or else there wouldn't be anything left of him to fish out! They take their job very seriously and remind people that if someone were to fall in, the gators would devour them before the handlers could get help. It was at that moment I realized being a gator handler was not on my list of dream jobs.
In another pen, the crocodiles and alligators lay basking in the sun. Here I noticed there were some that had huge chunks out of their bodies and tails. This was caused from fights with other predators, usually over food. Herons and egrets wandered among the large creatures, seemingly unafraid that they might become an appetizer at any time. Some were even standing atop the gators!