{"id":248471,"date":"2026-04-27T17:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248471\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:10:07","slug":"big-alligator-moved-from-i-drive-to-gatorland-named-mr-worldwide-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/248471\/","title":{"rendered":"Big alligator moved from I-Drive to Gatorland, named Mr. Worldwide \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gatorland<\/a> has taken in its first rescue alligator of the year, an animal measuring 11 feet, 3 inches and found near the south end of Orlando\u2019s International Drive.<\/p>\n

The staff has dubbed him Mr. Worldwide, a reference to the \u201cInternational\u201d part of I-Drive.<\/p>\n

He was released into the attraction\u2019s breeding marsh with dozens of other alligators Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally they\u2019re tired and hide for a few days to rest before they jump into the swing of things here,\u201d said Savannah Boan<\/a>, Gatorland Global<\/a> ambassador. \u201cMr. Worldwide, however, came in with a boldness we rarely see.\u00a0 He definitely wasn\u2019t shy and didn\u2019t go try and hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatorland is home to several gators longer than 11 feet, and at least one \u2014 named Big Kyle \u2014 at 13 feet, 8 inches.<\/p>\n

Gatorland officials say it\u2019s impossible to know the age of alligators found in the wild, but Mr. Worldwide is estimated to be about 30 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is breeding season in the state of Florida, so alligators are on the move looking for mates and some are being run out of there areas by bigger males,\u201d Boan said.<\/p>\n

Sloth World will not open following dozens of animal deaths: report<\/a><\/p>\n

The Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> contacted experience trappers who delivered Mr. Worldwide to the South Orange Blossom Trail attraction as part of the Gatorland Global Alligator Rescue Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are wild animals. They\u2019re not scripted at all,\u201d said Mike Woolfenden, one of the trappers involved with the capture of Mr. Worldwide. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a mama dog with puppies. They they have a mind and a will of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said they handle the reptiles as gently as they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the equipment, we have the knowledge and the experience to try to handle these particular gators with a little bit of respect and honor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Exploring Epcot\u2019s corners: Marathons, gods, capybaras, more<\/a><\/p>\n

Recently, Gatorland has named its rescue gators after their found locations: Homie D from Home Depot, Bogey from a golf course and Turnpike from the highway, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Pitbull is Mr. Worldwide, but we\u2019re saving that name for a fiesty Cuban crocodile!\u201d Boan said in the comment section of a Facebook video showing the release.<\/p>\n

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gatorland has taken in its first rescue alligator of the year, an animal measuring 11 feet, 3 inches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[104,114,139,141,140,109,76687,76688,76689,2411,106,107],"class_list":["post-248471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-entertainment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social","tag-social-entertainment","tag-social-theme-parks","tag-social-travel","tag-theme-parks","tag-things-to-do","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248471","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=248471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}