ORLANDO, Fla. – Gatorland is celebrating the life of one its most famous and largest gators, named Chester.
On Thursday, the Alligator Capitol of the World announced on social media that Chester had passed away peacefully last month following some health problems.
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“Somewhere in the early 1960′s, Chester was born,” said Mark McHugh, Gatorland CEO and president. “He had a great life growing up like most alligators do, growing up in the ponds and streams around Tampa eating bugs, crickets and just having a good old life.”
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The reptile park said Chester was captured in 2002 in Chestnut Park, which is just north of Tampa.
“About 20 years ago, all of the human development, starting building houses and shopping centers around Chester’s neck of the woods - well, that’s where the trouble started,” McHugh explained. “We’re pretty sure the people in the neighborhood started feeding Chester in the pond he lived in. 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.”
Not only was it believed that Chester was being fed, but he also stirred up trouble after he gained an appetite to eat people’s pets, including a Boxer and Labrador.
Chester was very special because he was Gatorland’s first rescue alligator and helped pave the way for future rescues across the state. At the time of his rescue, it was illegal for zoos and animal parks to accept animals from the wild. In an effort to save Chester’s life, Gatorland petitioned Florida Fish and Wildlife and state leaders in Tallahassee if it could capture and transfer Chester back to the park. At the time of Chester’s capture, most “nuisance” alligators were taken in and euthanized. Eventually, state leaders approved the park’s request and Chester was saved and on his way to Orlando.
“At that time, he was 12 feet and about 700 to 800 pounds,” said Mike Hileman, Gatorland park director.
During his time at Gatorland, Chester lived his life hanging out with other large gators, educating others in the park’s trainer-for-a-day program and even gaining so much popularity that the park named a hotdog after him, the Chester Dog. Chester eventually got his own “bachelor pad,” with his own private space.
Just few months ago, the park noticed that Chester showed signs of not wanting to eat. The teams said they first did some bloodwork to make sure it was not an infection, before eventually suspecting Chester had a blockage in his digestive system.
A team of special veterinarians and experts were called in to begin x-rays and perform a complex treatment program on the old gator.
Three times a week, park leaders would guide Chester onto a ladder where they would lift him up out of the water to begin treatments. The team of veterinarians would attempt to flush his system from both ends to get rid of the blockage.
“So, back before Christmas, Chester climbed out onto his favorite sunny spot. We were sure excited to see him up there. So we left him up there that afternoon just to soak up the sunshine,” McHugh explained. “When we came back that evening, Chester had passed peacefully.”
“Chester was a legend. He was a trailblazer. He touched, I don’t know, thousands of lives from the people that came to visit us. He has helped us going forward with all these rescues that we’re able to get from the nuisance alligator program that we do with Gatorland Global program and he’s always going to be a part of Gatorland,” Hileman concluded.
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