An animal handler and co-curator at an animal park in Kenansville, Florida are best friends with crocs, a panther, and huge gators, including a 14-ft alligator.
Watch the animal handler and his best friend – a 14-ft alligator
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Andrew Biddle, an animal handler and co-curator at Wild Florida, takes care of these dangerous animals at the animal park.
The 32-year-old man also hosts daily shows with the park’s largest gator and his best friend, Crusher. Crusher weighs 1,000 pounds and measures 14 feet.
Andrew told Barcroft Studios: “The most important thing is never forgetting that you’re dealing with a potentially dangerous animal. The worst mistake you could ever make is to drop your guard. There’s kind of a saying working with dangerous animals: ‘it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when’.”
He says that there is a misconception that reptiles are scary but they are not. He says they are very interesting animals and he likes to educate people about them.
Andrew, who is an animal lover since his childhood, also has a 16-ft anaconda, otters, and a house-bobcat, Thanos at his home where he lives with his wife Jessica, and two sons.
Andrew said: “When people come over, whether it’s friends or even the delivery guy, they’re pretty shocked when they see some of the animals – we do get some pretty funny responses.point 408 |
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Andrew has four different species of crocodilian, a reticulated python, an anaconda, a Burmese python, a bobcat, a marble fox, and several other reptiles.
Andrew’s pet alligators measure 5-ft while the park’s largest gator and his best friend, Crusher measures 14-ft.
He said about Crusher: “He’s probably 65 years old. He was a nuisance trapped alligator, so he was brought to the park six years ago. Within a short period of time we were able to train him to the alligator he is now. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”
Four years ago, a 10-ft alligator bit him on his hand. Speaking about the incident, he said: “He put one nice big tooth in my hand and shook my hand real good for what felt like 30 minutes, but was probably only a couple of seconds.”
“Luckily for me my wife is an ICU nurse, so she just cleaned me up and I was ready to go. But had I tried to pull my hand, I probably would have lost my thumb.”
Despite the incident, he gets up-close and personal with crocs, a panther, and huge gators on a daily basis.
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