Zoo guest wrestles with alligator to save its trainer

[Bogertophis]

Wow, this took some serious guts! Watch > > >

Zoo guest wrestles with alligator to save its trainer

A visitor at a Utah petting zoo sprang to action when an alligator clamped down on its trainer's hand and pulled her into its enclosure.
Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/0...e-orig-bdk.cnn


(What a great next-door neighbor this guy would be, eh? I wonder what he does for a living?)

[EL-Ziggy]

That was bananas!! He was a hero and she stayed really calm under pressure.

[Bogertophis]

And where were other staff members when this happened? I know it happened pretty fast, but for a "petting zoo" I think they need to work on better safety protocols. I'm glad the trainer's hand is going to be okay- feeding bites from snakes are bad enough, but at least they don't really "chew".

[mlededee]

Get the full story, from Lindsay here:

[Bogertophis]

Hey, thanks so much for sharing that, Emily- it's a long interview, but definitely adds a lot more information & context. And I stand corrected that alligators don't actually "chew"- that was the wrong term- but I'd still rather have a snake bite. I don't envy her bragging rights for having experienced a "death roll", & you can certainly get a serious though accidental "feeding bite" from a great many creatures, including domestic animals like dogs, horses, & birds too- it goes with the territory of working with animals of all kinds.

Though working with alligators would be outside my comfort zone, this accidental bite should not be blown out of proportion. I'm glad she pointed out that many have misinterpreted the video, & thought she was pulled into the water by the alligator: it did not appear that way to me & as she explained, she went into the water trying to minimize her injury by semi-cooperating with the hold the alligator had on her hand, essentially buying time for the right opportunity to get out of the hold. She did keep her cool quite well, as did the guy who jumped in to help.

[Bogertophis]

Oh, speaking of the guy that jumped in, I think somewhere in that long interview I caught them mentioning that he has experience with a rock python... Maybe that 'splains it?