{"id":223435,"date":"2026-04-08T14:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223435\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:07:07","slug":"buddy-the-biggest-alligator-living-at-gatorland-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223435\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddy, the biggest alligator living at Gatorland, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The largest alligator in the history of <a href=\"http:\/\/gatorland.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gatorland<\/a> has died.<\/p>\n<p>Buddy, who measured about 13 feet, 8 inches, long and weighed nearly half a ton, had been in failing health for a while, according to an announcement on Gatorland\u2019s social media accounts. The animal was under veterinary care, the post said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was on and off medication, getting extra vitamins, and we did everything we could to keep him comfortable,\u201d it said. \u201cThose cold snaps this year certainly didn\u2019t make things any easier on him. Our team here at Gatorland would find him early every morning to make sure he was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gatorland, which has operated on South Orange Blossom Trail since 1949, is home to thousands of reptiles, some of which reside in a breeding marsh. The population is a combination of natives to the park and rescue animals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the years, Buddy touched the hearts of every one at the park and was loved by millions on our social media,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gatorland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gatorland\u2019s Facebook post said<\/a>. \u201cBuddy helped shape Gatorland into what it is today. He made people fall in love with alligators.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2024\/05\/12\/gatorland-timeline-orlando-history-75-years-owen-godwin\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Picture it: 75 years of Gatorland history<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Buddy\u2019s size had given him the designation of \u201cbiggest\u201d Gatorland gator a few years ago, the attraction said, surpassing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2023\/01\/27\/chester-gatorlands-notoriously-rowdy-rescue-alligator-has-died\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">longtime champion Chester<\/a>, who died in late 2022.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2020\/06\/12\/bonding-with-gatorlands-favorite-gators\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A 2020 Orlando Sentinel story<\/a> explored the relationship between the animals and Gatorland trainers. <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/bmoose30\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brandon Fisher<\/a>, director of media relations and now a 20-year veteran of the attraction, talked about Buddy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s probably one of the most gentle gators that I\u2019ve worked with,\u201d Fisher said in 2020.\u00a0\u201cBut when I\u2019m not working with him, he is probably one of the toughest alligators we have out here in the breeding marsh. \u2026 He lets everybody know that he is the king of the swamp here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2020\/06\/12\/bonding-with-gatorlands-favorite-gators\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bonding with Gatorland\u2019s favorite gators<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A 2017 Facebook video was titled \u201cBuddy is the breeding marsh boss!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery day is an adventure with him,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/2026\/04\/08\/gatorland-buddy-0409\/mailto:dbevil@orlandosentinel.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The largest alligator in the history of Gatorland has died. Buddy, who measured about 13 feet, 8 inches,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,104,1563,28,1975,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,1976,105,11384,109,76687,76688,76689,106,1316,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-223435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-kissimmee","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-orange-county","17":"tag-orlando","18":"tag-orlando-headlines","19":"tag-orlando-news","20":"tag-osceola-county","21":"tag-outdoors","22":"tag-pets-and-animals","23":"tag-social","24":"tag-social-entertainment","25":"tag-social-theme-parks","26":"tag-social-travel","27":"tag-things-to-do","28":"tag-tourism","29":"tag-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}