ALLIGATOR FREE STYLE

Those of you that follow my monthly stories know that I have a great love for animals. You also know that I have a great love for wild alligators. Alligators are not dumb animals at all. They become familiar with the people that they see on a daily basis. Alligators have built in sonar. They can hear, see and smell just as well as many other animals in the everglades. They can also feel the Eco-system around them. An alligator can feel something as small as a peanut hit the water from about 20 yards away and will hear something splash in the water, then turn in that direction and wait for the vibration to hit them. Once the vibration hits them, they know where the object is and how big it is. If you try to sneak up on an alligator, he knows you are there. That’s one reason I can walk up to an alligator in the wild. I can get close to alligators because they will try to move away from big things that are near them. Alligators live in a big ecosystem with small animals, so they don’t like being near big things. Give an alligator a way to leave, and they will relax. If they do become frightened they will leave, as long as they can. If you do make an alligator attack you, don’t worry he will only "bite" you. An alligator will not take you and stuff you under a log and eat you later. Alligators "DO NOT" eat people, they bite people. We have salt in our body and a wild alligator doesn’t like salt. If an alligator bites you, he is going to spit you out. Since 1955 only 9 people have died from alligator bites. There are about 75 to 125 alligator bites reported each year in the state of Florida.

Growing up in the everglades my parents taught me to respect nature. They told me, "If you’re nice to the animals, the animals won’t be afraid of you." I don’t think my mom knew I was going to be so nice to the alligators. I learned at an early age that alligators get to know the people that live in and around their territory. As a kid, I would go walking way out in my back yard. My back yard was all everglades. Now it is all suburbia. There were many times I almost stepped on or bumped into an alligator because they blend in with the scenery so well.

As a child I was a curious and I would walk right up to alligators in the wild. As I grew older, I found myself wanting to get closer to alligators. In my past stories you may have read a story titled "Living and swimming with an alligator named Psycho." Yes, "swimming". I’ve known PSYCHO for 11 years and he knows me by eyesight and voice. The one bond that we don’t have is the food bond. PSYCHO knows I DON’T HAVE FOOD FOR HIM. The worst thing you can do with an alligator is to feed them. Feed an alligator and you have made a friend that will bite you sooner or later. I know some alligators and that’s as far as it goes. There are other alligators that I call my "friends". I’ve had people say, "Don’t call an alligator a friend." Well, that’s s to bad for them because, I have alligator friends.

PSYCHO is my best alligator friend. I swim with him and have no fear of him. One day I was in the lake swimming and I turned to go back to the shore. What I didn’t know was, PSYCHO was behind me. As I turned, I jammed my elbow into PSYCHOS mouth. I froze for a moment thinking I was about to lose my arm. PSYCHO just barely squeezed down on my arm with his mouth and backed off. I was so thankful that PSYCHO considered me a friend and didn’t close his mouth on me. Instead, he turned away. I did the same thing with my hand one day; PSYCHO reacted the same way. It is so cool to have a friend like PSYCHO.

People hear me talk about swimming with alligators and walking close to them in the wild. I hear comments like, "He’s so cool. He’s got guts. He’s crazy. My favorite is, "I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" But, that’s what I want to here.

In my stories I write about getting close to alligators in the wild and I want all of you to know, this is "NOT" something anyone should try! NEVER EVER TRY ANY OF THE THINGS THAT I DO "PERIOD".

The only reason I can do these things is because of the EXPEREINCE I have handling alligators.

People here me talk about getting close to alligators and they think I’m cool but that’s not true. There are many other cooler people than myself. What I do with alligators is what I call "ALLIGATOR FREE STYLE"

Compared to others in the "BIZ" I’m not all that cool.

As far as I’m concerned the KING of alligator free style is Manny Puig. Manny is part of the Extreme team, the Extreme team is made up of three partners Manny, Mark and Magen. The extreme team is featured on Animal planets EXTREME ENCOUNTERS.

Manny gets very extreme with alligators. He swims to the bottom of a canal and hooks his fingers under an 11-foot alligator’s jaw. Then slowly bring the alligator to the top and steers the alligator to the shore. Once there, he will step away from the alligator and let it go on his way. Sometimes things don’t go so perfectly and Manny has had to grab on to and wrestle 11 to 12-foot alligators under water. If you want to talk about guts, Manny is KING!

If you havn’t figured it out, I consider Manny to be one of my COOLEST friends.

Manny can also hold his breath for over five minutes. I’m lucky if I can hold mine for 30 seconds.

As a child I would go out walking in the everglades and if I were to see an alligator, I would walk up to him and get a very close look. If I were to go swimming and see an alligator in the water I would swim close to the alligator. When Manny was a child and he would see an alligator in the lake, he would run down to the end of the dock and jump on the alligator.

Before I met Manny I liked to get close to alligators. After watching him, I find myself getting even closer. I like encountering alligators in the wild and then checking out their attitude. If an alligator is not happy with you being close, he will let you know. A loud hissing noise is enough to let you know that the alligator is not happy with you. As long as you watch what you’re doing and give the alligator a way to leave, it is possible to get within inches of an alligator in the wild. After watching Manny in action, I’ve learned some of his techniques. I now can walk up to an alligator about four feet long and within a half an hour, slide my hands under the alligator, pick him up over my head and then set him back in the water, without getting bit. Bigger alligators are to heavy for me to pick up.

Manny also shares my belief that people, animals and machinery can get along in any ecosystem as long as we don’t harm the animals, or their habitat. We are the dominant species on this Earth and we must learn to get along with the animals in the wild and NOT shut them out our lives.

I really enjoy walking into a swamp and getting close to the alligators that live there. The only reason people like Manny and myself can do these things with alligators is, because of the years of experience we have dealing with these animals.

PLEASE DO NOT TRY ANY OF THESE THINGS, ALLIGATORS ARE VERY DANGEROUS!

An alligator has 40 teeth on the bottom of his jaw and 40 teeth on the top of his jaw. That’s 80 good reasons to leave alligators alone.

Alligators are very smart! They have a little brain but remember that little brain has been around for over two hundred million years. I tell everyone alligators are just like tour guides, they have a little brain and a big mouth!

Well speaking of a big mouth, that’s it for this month. THANKS for coming to read my story for this month. BYE

P.S. I pay honor to anyone who wrestles alligators or those who work in close quarters with alligators. If a person has to get on an alligator day after day, that is alligator wrestling. I have a friend that works with me at Gator Park, Salvator Lorick and he has been doing all of the above for over a year and he still says "I’m not an alligator wrestler". Well I’m going to let the cat out of the bag and tell the world that SALVATOR LORICK is an alligator wrestler.

Keep up the good work SAL.

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Glenn W. Wilsey Sr. (GATORMAN)

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