Maggie Koerth-Baker is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. A freelance science and health journalist, Maggie lives in Minneapolis, brain dumps on Twitter, and writes quite often for mental_floss magazine.
Why It’s Hard to Find Good Gator Wrestling Help These Days
In 2000, members of the Seminole tribe near Hollywood, Florida put an ad in the local paper. They were looking for a new alligator wrestler. Mano-y-gator conflict is nothing new to the Seminole. Hand-caught gators were a traditional food source. But it was only in the 21st century that the tribe had hard luck finding people willing to jump in there (i.e., the swamp) and go for it (i.e., pin several-hundred-pound, sharp-toothed creatures to the ground with only their soft and presumably tasty bodies). This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Wrestling alligators for the benefit of white tourists used to be one of the few Seminole-friendly job markets in Florida. Improved access to higher education–and the fact that, today, Seminole are more likely to actually own the tourist trap, rather than just work there–meant fewer tribe members willing to risk life and limb for a poorly paying job. And thus, the newspaper ad.
Did I Mention it Doesn’t Pay Well?
Answering the ad, and ultimately winning the gig, was 32-year-old Greg Long. By November 10, 2000, Long was wrestling alligators for $8 an hour, the going rate for gator-wrestlers.Tips are recommended.
And That You’re Gonna Get Bit?
The “wrestling” in alligator wrestling is something of a misnomer. Neither Greco-Roman, nor WWF, alligator wrestlers are actually trying to do something more akin to calf-roping: Catch an alligator from a pool or pit and bind its jaws shut with rope. Easy! Along the way, they perform tricks and explain interesting tidbits about about the animal’s behavior and biology. Look at that guy in the photo. Doesn’t he look like he loves educating the public?
Despite not being nearly as violent as it sounds, all alligator wrestlers will most likely be bitten at some point. The job requires strength and timing. One wrong move and your arm or leg could end up in the Old Alligator Wrestler’s Retirement Villa*. Needless to say, it is not a sport for amateurs. In 2006, an alligator took down real-estate baron Ronald Bergeron after the land developer tried to wrestle a gator during a party. Bergeron was dragged underwater briefly before the other well-heeled (and more sober?) guests could free him. He survived, with a few shattered finger bones.
Again, there’s more where this came from.
Image courtesy the delightfully named turtlemom4bacon.
*the alligator’s stomach