TAMPA, Fla. — Gatorland, a reptile park in Orlando, announced Thursday the sad passing of its first rescued alligator, Chester.
In a video, the park said Chester died last month due to some ongoing health problems.
The 13-foot alligator was born in the early 1960s and was captured in 2002 in Chestnut Park, an area north of Tampa, Gatorland Orlando says.
"He had a great life growing up like most young alligators do [when they are] growing up in the ponds and streams and canals around Tampa, eating bugs and crickets and just having a good old life," Mark McHugh, Gatorland CEO and president, said in the video.
McHugh said that about 20 years ago, houses and shopping centers began to pop up in the Tampa area where Chester lived — and that only led to troubled behavior from the reptile.
"By this time, Chester was over 12 feet long, weighed over 500 pounds and we're pretty sure that the people in the neighborhood there started feeding Chester down at the pond he lived in," he said. "Although they were well-intentioned, they were actually conditioning Chester to think that people are food and everything around people is also food.
"That's where he starts to lose his natural fear of humans. That's why it's against the law to feed alligators in the state of Florida [because] it creates a very dangerous situation."
Chester paved the way for future alligator rescues across Florida because at the time he was transported to Orlando, it was illegal for animal parks or zoos to retrieve animals from the wild, according to WKMG-TV. However, Gatorland petitioned state leaders and the Florida Fish and Wildlife to take the alligator back to the park.
WKMG-TV reports that Chester lived with other alligators, was part of the park's trainer-for-a-day program and had a hotdog named after him called the Chester Dog as he was a popular animal at Gatorland.
About a few months ago, park officials noticed that Chester showed signs of not wanting to eat, so they ran some tests on him to ensure he did not have an infection, according to WKMG-TV. However, he had a blockage in his digestive system.
Gatorland officials would reportedly help him onto a ladder three times a week to get him out of the water for treatments. A team of veterinarians would also try to flush his system from both ends to take out the blockage, WKMG-TV says.
"Chester showed millions of people alligators have unique, beautiful personalities and although we fear and respect them, they can also be loved," McHugh said. "Thank you Chester for being the amazing character that you were, for blazing the trail to save so many alligators' lives, for showing the world how awesome alligators can be."
