{"id":62796,"date":"2017-01-10T08:16:10","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=62796"},"modified":"2017-01-10T08:16:44","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T12:16:44","slug":"yes-this-really-happened-gator-rodeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=62796","title":{"rendered":"Yes, this really happened&#8211;Gator Rodeo!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Gator rodeo: Girl allowed to ride 8ft alligator\u2019s back as mother films (VIDEO)<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_62797\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/5873f602c36188d9138b45cf.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62797\" class=\"size-full wp-image-62797\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/5873f602c36188d9138b45cf.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/5873f602c36188d9138b45cf.jpg 900w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/5873f602c36188d9138b45cf-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/5873f602c36188d9138b45cf-768x427.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-62797\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 La Boite A Trucs \/ YouTube<\/p><\/div>\n<p>RT.com<\/p>\n<p>Some parents thought it was a good idea to let their child ride on the back of an 8-foot-long alligator during a birthday party entertained by a US group spreading awareness about the reptiles.<\/p>\n<p>The gigantic predator was filmed walking around the room with the young girl on its back as adults took photos of the moment and laughed in the background.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\"><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"http:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/EP6oxBDEVg1I4\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/div>\n<p>The girl is seen jumping up and running away from the reptile at one point, but is then coaxed by surrounding adults to return and sit back on its back.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\"><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"giphy-embed\" src=\"http:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/vUYsrR06TnRjq\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/div>\n<p>The incident apparently took place at a <em>\u201cCold Blooded Creatures\u201d<\/em> event, run by a Chicago-based group that often holds events where people can get into close proximity with alligators, Yahoo News <a href=\"http:\/\/au.news.yahoo.com\/a\/33741679\/watch-child-rides-on-alligators-back-at-childrens-birthday-party\/#page1\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Cold Blooded Creatures Facebook page shows its founder, Jim Nesci, performing at school assemblies and even Christmas parties with various reptiles. Nesci says he runs his <em>\u201cReptile Education\u201d<\/em> programs under the motto <em>\u201cconservation through education.\u201d<\/em> The self-taught reptile expert keeps a number of giant creatures, including gators, snakes, lizards and tortoises, in his own house.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\">\n<div class=\"fb-post fb_iframe_widget\" data-href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ColdBloodedCreatures\/posts\/1068027293295810\" data-width=\"500\" data-show-text=\"false\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"fb:post Facebook Social Plugin\" src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/v2.8\/plugins\/post.php?app_id=&amp;channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2Fr%2FiPrOY23SGAp.js%3Fversion%3D42%23cb%3Df1210b698b8a62%26domain%3Dwww.rt.com%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.rt.com%252Ff3b3b8b22acc5%26relation%3Dparent.parent&amp;container_width=760&amp;href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FColdBloodedCreatures%2Fposts%2F1068027293295810&amp;locale=en_US&amp;sdk=joey&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=500\" name=\"f34fcfec769e2e8\" width=\"500px\" height=\"1000px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rtcode\"><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmedia%2Fset%2F%3Fset%3Da.1011061732325700.1073741827.123352614429954%26type%3D3&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"684\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/div>\n<p>Nesci is often filmed alongside Bubba, the 8-feet long, 200-pound North American Alligator said to be <em>\u201cthe one and only\u201d<\/em> gator that takes commands from his owner. Bubba has become somewhat a TV celebrity, and has also appeared on screen with the late Australian animal expert <em>\u201cCrocodile Hunter\u201d<\/em> Steve Irwin, who was Nesci\u2019s friend.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtcode\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lcDMGSyi0g4\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis_sharing_toolbox\" data-url=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/viral\/373151-girl-sits-alligator-back\/\" data-title=\"Gator rodeo: Girl allowed to ride 8ft alligator\u2019s back as mother films (VIDEO)\" data-description=\" Some parents thought it was a good idea to let their child ride on the back of an 8-foot-long alligator during a birthday party entertained by a US group spreading awareness about the reptiles. \">\n<div id=\"atstbx4\" class=\"at-share-tbx-element addthis-smartlayers addthis-animated at4-show\">\n___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rt.com\/viral\/373151-girl-sits-alligator-back\/\">http:\/\/www.rt.com\/viral\/373151-girl-sits-alligator-back\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gator rodeo: Girl allowed to ride 8ft alligator\u2019s back as mother films (VIDEO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}