Information on Wrestling Alligators in Florida

The Latest Florida Gator Toursit Attraction

While alligators definitely do exist around ponds and lakes of people’s backyards and there are definitely alligators on golf courses, it is not very likely that a traveling tourist will hap-pen upon one just by accident. At one point in the time of the 1960s they were all over the place, but since have been confined mostly to farms and zoos for commercial benefits.

The first alligator farm opened in St. Augustine in 1893 where the tenders simply put a few dozen alligators into a pit with each other. These individuals of course captured the alligators for commercial reasons but unfortunately they were quickly let down, as gators, besides being creepy looking , rarely even move. Sometimes they even lay overlapping each other and don’t flinch. One can also see live alligators at Tampa’s Busch Gardens amusement Park, though not a ton because there are many other animals to make room for there as well. These too are for the most part dormant.

So in actuality alligators can be quite boring to watch and most people simply do spend time staring at them just in hopes that suddenly they will do something miraculous, like move.

The most popular gator farms in Florida are the Gatorland Zoo in Kissimmee/Orlando area and Native Village on the Semino0le Indian Reservation and the Everglades gator farm in homestead. All have struggled in the past with attracting or entertaining tourists with bored sun basking gators so it seems they have attempted to make the experience more active and exciting, not to mention dangerous and some might say, crazy?

One way is by wrestling the alligators as a spectator sport. Some farms are more intense with this then others but it is a fad designed to excite tourists. Apparently those who wrestle alligators see it as a great art and talent and have even attributed nicknames to the various moves one must make to win the “wrestling” match. The sequence and nicknames are as follows: