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A petting zoo catastrophe was narrowly averted over the weekend by the quick response of a daring bystander. When an alligator clamped his powerful jaws around the hand of his handler and dragged her into his enclosure a visitor to the Utah petting zoo climbed into the enclosure and wrestled with the alligator until it loosened its grip, allowing the handler to escape a potentially deadly situation with relatively minor injuries.
Potentially deadly situation averted
The Scales and Tails petting zoo in Utah was hosting a birthday party for a group of children when the alligator attacked.
Named “Darthgator,” the eight foot American Alligator was purchased by the petting zoo in 2009 when it was less than a year old and it has resided at Scales and Tails ever since.
Lindsay Bull, who has worked with Darthgator at the petting zoo for more than three years, can be seen in footage of the incident being grabbed and dragged into the enclosure by the gator.
Fortunately, bystander Donnie Wiseman immediately leapt into action. Wiseman stepped into the enclosure and climbed onto the alligator’s back.
As he called for help Wiseman attempted to subdue the alligator, which quickly began to loosen its grip on Bull’s right hand.
Todd Christopher, another bystander, was then able to pull the handler from the enclosure while Wiseman continued to hold the reptile.
Alligator and handler both to survive confrontation
Christopher’s wife Amy, who has a background in nursing, was able to administer first-aid to Bull, who escaped what might have been a deadly incident with non-life threatening injuries.
Bull was discharged from the hospital after undergoing surgery and is expected to regain full use of her hand. Wiseman was able to escape from the alligator with the help of staff at the petting zoo.
Scales and Tails has no intention of killing or selling Darthgator, who is described on their website as a very intelligent and relatively well trained alligator.
Unfortunately, even the most well trained creatures can occasionally fall back into obeying their nature and Dathgator’s instincts as an American Alligator happened to kick in while Lindsay Bull was too close.
The petting zoo reports that they have been making plans to move him to a new and larger enclosure and that the already sizable gator is still growing rapidly.
All parties involved fortunately escaped from an incident which could have been deadly with their lives thanks to the quick thinking of one brave bystander.
