(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Photo Diary: St Augustine FL Alligator Farm [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-08 The Alligator Farm is one of the earliest tourist attractions in St Augustine. For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently wintering in St Augustine, Florida. In 1893, two friends named George Reddington and Felix Fire, who were avid outdoorsmen, decided that they could use their mutual interest in alligators to tap into the then-new wave of tourists who were beginning to arrive in Florida’s historic St Augustine. So they went to Anastasia Island, opened a small curio and souvenir shop, and put a few of their gators on display out front. As it turned out, the tourists were more interested in the gators than in the souvenirs. So the two altered their emphasis, and became the “St Augustine Alligator Farm”. It proved to be a popular attraction with vacationers who were arriving on the newly completed Flagler railroad, and a tramline was put in place to shuttle visitors from downtown St Augustine out to Anastasia Island. At the end of 1920, the Alligator farm was hit by a violent storm and then had two fires in quick succession. As a result, the entire attraction was relocated several miles away on the south coast of the island. Billed as “The World’s Largest Alligator Farm”, the attraction featured regularly in advertising for the South Beach Railway Company. By 1934, Fire, who was not really interested in the business side, sold his ownership share to Reddington to concentrate on his role as curator. Three years later, Reddington retired and sold the farm to two local businessmen named W.I. Drysdale and F. Charles Usina. Fire stayed on as curator and head keeper. Drysdale and Usina had big plans. First, they ran a series of advertisements with the larger national railroads, which led to stories in newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Toronto Star and Saturday Evening Post, transforming the Alligator Farm from a local spot to a well-known tourist attraction. After securing fresh funding, they expanded and updated the buildings, enlarged the Alligator pens to over 7 acres, and added a nature trail. They also added to their animal collection and were soon exhibiting ostriches, monkeys, giant tortoises, lemurs, and native Florida snakes and turtles. With help from the Florida Audubon Society, a large outdoor area was set up for wild egrets, herons, ibis and storks to breed. Biologists from the University of Florida began studies on the farm’s Alligators. In 1989, the Alligator Farm was fully accredited as a zoo by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and began to focus its attention on captive-breeding of endangered crocodilians and educating the public about these animals. By 1993, the Alligator Farm had breeding pairs of all of the 24 known crocodilian species—the only place in the world to do so—and began captive-breeding them for release back into the wild. In 2001, the AZA located its Crocodilian Biology and Captive Management School at the farm. Today, the Alligator Farm Zoological Park is one of Florida’s oldest still-operating tourist attractions (it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places), and is one of the most-visited places in St Augustine. There are live animal shows and keeper talks throughout the day, and a boardwalk takes visitors through the bird-breeding area, which is one of the largest wild bird rookeries in the state. Some photos from a day at the Alligator Farm. Alligator Farm More Alligators here than you can count in a day Baby Alligators. They’re so cuuuute! Snake show. There are keeper talks and shows all day long. Native birds---Spoonbill, Tri-Color Heron, White Ibis, and more Spoonbill making a nest. The rookery is worth a diary all its own. This very large Reticulated Python has unusually bright colors Komodo Dragon. I’m not sure who is looking at who here ... Hooded Vulture Keepers tidying up the vulture pen Black and White Lemur Yellow-Headed Amazon Parrot I think this is a Wigeon—I don’t see them often Albino Alligator—his name is “Mr Bones” Morelet’s Crocodile slides into the water Saltwater Crocodile Cuban Crocodile. They hold their mouths open to cool down. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/8/2150139/-Photo-Diary-St-Augustine-FL-Alligator-Farm Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/