Beauty and the beast - Short Stuff - alligator wrestling - Brief Article

Girls' Life, June, 2002

You know that show Crocodile Hunter? Well, Babs Steorts can totally relate. That's because she's the first-ever female to work in the Gator Wrestlin' Arena at Gatorland in Orlando, Fla. A typical day on the job for Babs goes something like this: She stands in the sand-filled wrestling pit, while an audience watches from the bleachers.

Surrounding the sand pit is a water-filled "moat" with about a dozen alligators. Babs jumps in, grabs an 8-foot, 250-pound gator (who has, oh, 82 razor-sharp teeth) by the tail and pulls him onto the sand. She struggles, the gator resists but, soon, Babs is straddling the beast and has him in a snout-hold. "You'd be surprised what a person in Florida will do for minimum wage," Babs jokes. But, seriously, it took the Fairmount State grad six months to complete her gator-wrestling training. "I've learned that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to," she says. "I was determined to be the first female gator wrestler." Anyone up to becoming the second female gator wrestler? Next! For more info about Gatorland, go to www.gatorland.com