brooksie female alligator wrestler alabama

Jessie Cottone, the tribe’s first female alligator wrangler, does the same trick, but she refers to it with a gender-neutral name: “Face Off.”Īs a kid, Cottone loved the outdoors, eating mud and playing with insects, but as she grew older, she says, her mother pushed her to become more “girly.” When she finished high school, she considered going to cosmetology school, but instead decided to work with animals. Nowadays, 25 of the original 100 are still around, and visitors pay $104 for the chance to see Samantha tackle them, and even try it themselves.For decades, alligator wrestlers working at the Miccosukee tribe’s Indian Village cultural center have performed a trick they call “Close Shave.” Seated on an alligator’s back, they hold the big reptile’s mouth open by clamping down on its top jaw with only their chin, then pass their hands through the gaping maw of the deadly beast. As the news spread, people began poking around the gators’ pools, and to avoid any accidents, the Young family began charging people to see the alligators.

She says all you have to do is position yourself on the alligator’s back, in such a way that you have its mouth and neck under your control, then pull its head back and voila, you have yourself a tamed alligator.Įrwin and Lynn Young started their alligator farm, in 1987, when they brought in 100 one-year-old reptiles.

Now, this girly version of Crocodile Dundee teaches grown men how to tackle eight-foot alligators, at the Colorado Gators Reptile Park, and has even trained US marines, in this deadly art.

She admits being scared, at first, but her dad was always there watching over her, ready to intervene if things got out of hand. Samantha began wrestling alligators when she was just 6 years old, but says her father beat her to it, starting the dangerous practice at age 5, after he was bit by one. The 9-year-old was also inspired by her parents, both professional alligator wrestlers. Growing up on a farm, with 350 alligators has made Samantha Young take up alligator wrestling at a very young age.

Brooksie female alligator wrestler alabama