Close encounter with a gator
Red Deer Advocate - July 23, 1999 - by Brenda Kossowan
Fewer people would be killed by alligators
if they took more time to learn about them,
says handlers performing with living lizards
at Westerner Days.
Like Alberta's grizzly bears, Florida's alligators
are wild predators that have been pushed
out of much of their habitat by encroaching
humans, said Bert Lucas, the man with the
microphone at Kachunga and the Alligators.
While Lucas cracks jokes and explains the
alligator's aggressive behaviour, his partner
Jeff Quattrocchi demonstrates on a living,
snapping specimen.
"We've been hyped as a wrestling show.
Gators don't know much about wrestling,"
said Lucas, as Quattrocchi grabbed a 2.5
metre, 100-kg male by the tale and dragged
him through the water to the middle of the
ring. "He has 2,000 pounds per square inch
of jaw pressure. Alligators don't chew their
food. They swallow it whole." If the pieces are too big, they shake their
heads from side to side until a smaller piece
breaks off. "They can tear your arm
completely off your body," said Lucas.
Quattrocchi starts his demo by showing how
an alligator responds to a threat and the
speed with which it can snap it's jaws. Then,
with a few deft movements, he clamps the
animal's jaws shut, grabs it around the midsection
and carries it up to the stage.
"We won't hurt him, but he doesn't know
that," said Lucas. The problems for
visitors to Florida start when they see handlers
at alligator shows wrestling with the animals
that seem to be relatively stoic about the
affair, he said.
Most of the alligators used in the shows
are so accustomed to the routines that they
forget their fear and become quite placid.
It looks easy enough - so easy some people
get the idea they'd like to try it themselves
on the next wild alligator they encounter,
said Lucas. Kachunga uses each animal for only a short
period of time, replacing it before it learns
the routines and becomes complacent. "We
want to clear up some myths about alligators.
A common question is, 'Why do alligators
attack people?"
Lucas said there are three main reasons people
get hurt, the first being from interfering
with a female trying to protect her young.
They can also get into territorial battles
with males, who like to claim small bodies
of water as their own. Thirdly, they become
aggressive toward humans because people keep
trying to feed them, said Lucas. Feeding
wild predators teaches them to look to people
as a source of food , and that makes them
dangerous, he said.
People can enjoy watching alligators in the
wild if they show them some respect and use
some common sense, said Lucas.
Dean Harper, owner of the Wrappin About Reptiles
show on display inside the Parkland Pavilion,
said he supports Lucas's and Quattrocchi's
efforts to shine some light on the myths
about the big lizards.
People in Alberta and other cooler parts of the world see very few reptiles in the normal course of their travels, said Harper. Their lack of knowledge creates in many people an unreasonable fear of snakes and lizards, when some can actually be quite cuddly, he said. People need to know reptiles are valuable members of a healthy environment and they need the same respect as their fur-covered co-habitants. "Ever since I was five, I had a love for reptiles." Of the 100 or so scaly beasts he owns, Harper's favourite is a female reticulated python that has the potential to grow 11 metres in length. She is caged next to "Thing," a larger male python that poses with fairgoers who want unique pictures of themselves.
Harper said part of his personal mission,
shared with his crew, is to raise money to
rescue reptiles people have purchased as
pets, only to find some types don't really
make good companions.
Green Iguanas, for example, can be purchased
at some pet stores. But most homeowners find
the little lizard they brought home isn't
quite so nice when it reaches two metres
in length, said Harper.
Wrappin About Reptiles can be found among the trade fair booths in the Parkland Pavilion, adjacent to the Centrium.
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