In an action-packed morning on January 16, keepers at the Australian Reptile Park undertook the deadly and mammoth task of catching their three largest, and most dangerous male alligators for their annual health check.
Despite the peak of breeding season being over, the Park’s female alligators are still laying eggs and protecting their nest site, so keepers had to be on their game when entering the lagoon, which is home to over 40 alligators.
To conduct the health check and ensure that both the alligators and keepers remained safe, the keepers had to remove the three largest male alligators.
During breeding season, male alligators often sustain injuries from fighting with other males to breed with the best female within the population.
It is important to check over the alligators after breeding season to ensure they’re in the best health.
Operations Manager Billy Collett said performing a health check on a massive male alligator was no simple task.
“The process involves keepers wrangling the alligators and restraining them before relocating them into the Main Park area, and then checking their muscular condition, dental health, and overall physical condition since they’ve just come out of breeding season,” he said.
“Whilst we conduct health checks annually after breeding season, this is the first time we’ve brought our biggest male alligators into the Main Park area.
“During the checks, we measured our biggest male alligator, Ivan, and he came in at a whopping 4.2m.
“That is absolutely ginormous for an alligator, and he is easily the biggest male American alligator in captivity here in Australia.”
Alligator Brutus measured 3.5m, with Bazza coming in at 3.2m.
Visitors watched in awe as keepers measured and checked each alligator.
Afterwards, they were able to get up close to the gigantic reptiles, with some kids getting given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pat the creatures on their tails.
Visitors can see more than 40 hungry American alligators go into a feeding frenzy at 10:45am, 12.30pm, and 2pm each day.