{"id":358278,"date":"2026-07-31T00:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358278\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T00:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T00:53:12","slug":"gatorland-welcomes-rescued-alligator-after-illegal-feeding-in-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358278\/","title":{"rendered":"Gatorland welcomes rescued alligator after illegal feeding in the wild"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5rratnpjp0dhiwyz.jpg\" alt=\"Gatorland welcomes rescued alligator after illegal feeding in wild\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5rratnpjp0dhiwyz.jpg\" alt=\"Gatorland welcomes rescued alligator after illegal feeding in wild\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image\" data-v-611a3d9b=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">ORLANDO, Fla. &#8211; Gatorland has a new resident.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">A large alligator was rescued after people illegally fed it in the wild, causing it to lose its natural fear of humans, according to the iconic Central Florida attraction.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WOFL\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The alligator was removed from the Blackwater Creek Preserve area between Plant City and Dade City through <a class=\"zReHs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gatorland.com\/about\/gatorland-global\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gatorland Global<\/a>, the park&#8217;s conservation program that works with nuisance alligator trappers to relocate reptiles that cannot safely remain in the wild.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Park officials said feeding wild alligators is illegal because it teaches them to associate people with food, often leading to dangerous encounters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">At Gatorland, however, the alligator will receive daily care and regular feedings.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gatorland-rescued-alligator1.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gatorland-rescued-alligator2.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gatorland-rescued-alligator3.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The alligator has not yet been named, and Gatorland is inviting visitors to submit suggestions. More than 2,000 alligators live at the Orlando attraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This story was written based on information shared by Gatorland.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/orange-county\/orlando\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Orlando News<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/series\/gatorland-special\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gatorland &#8211; Into The Swamp (FOX Local Original)<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/tag\/science\/wild-nature\/alligators\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alligators<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. &#8211; Gatorland has a new resident. A large alligator was rescued after people illegally fed it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[13925,47,146135,115,1335,139,141,140,554,405,628,14992],"class_list":["post-358278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-alligators","tag-fl","tag-gatorland-special","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-science","tag-series","tag-us","tag-wild-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358278","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=358278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}