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Jacob Pursifull thought the best way to get more social media attention was to jump into the alligator enclosure at Busch Gardens, near Tampa Bay, Florida. He may have been dying for views but thankfully, it wasn’t a fatal mistake. Police have him in an enclosure of his own at the Hillsborough County jail.
Jumping into an alligator enclosure
Police in Tampa Bay, Florida are reporting that they rescued 20-year-old Jacob Pursifull from the alligator enclosure at a popular theme park. His motivation for the dangerous stunt was “filming a video for social media.”
They now have him safely under arrest. According to their report, the local social media influencer hopped a fence to enter Busch Gardens theme park illegally on June 1. His accomplices haven’t been charged.
Pursifull and two of his buddies made a beeline for “the park’s alligator enclosure, which is outfitted with two layers of metal fencing.” They were filmed by the security cameras.
Police tracked down Jacob Pursifull with the help of a social media video that appears to show him jumping into the park’s gator enclosure. https://t.co/XGV5HQJeIM
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) June 9, 2023
One of his associates recorded him as he entered the swamp-like habitat. The video turned out to be the key to tracking him down. Apparently the park was open at the time and he was spotted by visitors.
Onlookers can be seen in the video posted to TikTok shouting at Pursifull “to get out and that it was dangerous to get that close to the reptiles.” The social media star shrugged the danger off to quip “another wild Karen. Crikey!”
He wouldn’t have been laughing if an alligator ripped his leg off. For an appetizer. They would be on him like piranha from the first spurt of blood. It’s unclear, CNN reports, whether Pursifull has legal representation.
Video not available
We have to trust the police at face value that “he posted a video of the incident to social media.” They claim to have used it to track him down. If it was up once, it’s down now. “No video of the incident currently appears on social media accounts appearing to belong to Pursifull.”
Tampa police managed to track him down somehow. While he survived his alligator adventure, Pursifull now gets to brave the legal system.
On Monday, June 5, the intrepid explorer was arrested and booked into custody. They charged him with theft of services, trespassing and burglary of an occupied structure. Tampa police dropped him off at the Hillsborough County jail, where he spent the night.
Twenty-year-old Jacob Pursifull is accused of breaking into Busch Gardens, jumping into an alligator enclosure and filming a video for social media – a dangerous stunt that authorities say led to his arrest. https://t.co/DNapvVVglp
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) June 10, 2023
He would have preferred to have spent it in the alligator pond. It would have been safer than the holding cells. By Tuesday, he was released on $8,500 bond.
It’s not clear at this time if the other two individuals who broke into the theme park to film Pursifull wrangling an alligator will face any charges.
First, they have to be identified and tracked down. If someone turns them in, they’ll round em up but other than that, the public isn’t expecting much. “The Tampa Police Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry from CNN.“
