GIBSON, La. — If you travel deep into south Louisiana, you’ll find swamps that hold upwards of 2 million alligators.
When you think of these toothy reptiles, your first thought may not be to go up and interact with them, but that’s not the case for Tim Domangue.
That’s because he runs Greenwood Gator Farm and Tours, and owns about 12,000 alligators!
Maybe that is why folks know him as “Gator Man,” but he also has another nickname that he’s known by.
“The other one is bugs. My dad gave me that name years ago because I used to love insects when I was little, so that kind of stuck with me. I’m probably the only one on the farm that doesn’t run from spiders and stuff like that,” says Tim with a chuckle.
He also doesn’t run from gators.
Instead, he approaches them for feeding time in one of the property’s gator enclosures.
“As long as I got my stick, I’m good,” says Tim referencing a long wooden stick that resembles a broom stick. “Now sometimes the gators done bit the stick off or taken the stick. Then I sort of got to run to the cage and get back in but that’s very rare,” says Tim.
While on his tour boat, he can spot gators from hundreds of yards away and guess their size, even if he can only see their heads sticking out of the water.
“From the tip of the nose to the eyes…for every inch it’s a foot that they grow,” explains Tim.
For more information on the Greenwood Gator Farm click here.
Tune in Thursday, May 9th at 5:00 p.m. on WGNO for part two of this gator adventure.
