SPRING, Texas – A Beaumont man is recovering at Memorial Hermann Texas Trauma Institute after a gator wrangle gone wrong.
It happened Saturday at the Old Town Spring Crawfish Festival.
Will Sherrer and his partner, who work for Gator Country in Beaumont, were hired to perform three shows at the festival.
At the end of the final show of the day, Sherrer was preparing to tape an alligator's mouth when he accidentally stepped on the 9-foot long, 300-pound animal.
"Me hitting his foot triggered a natural reaction for him to swing around and grab me here on the arm, shook me a little bit and then threw me forward," Sherrer said.
The incident was caught on camera by several people and audience members can be heard screaming in horror.
Sherrer suffered 20 inch-deep bites on his left arm from his bicep to his wrist.
He says he feels lucky and does not blame the gator. Sherrer told KPRC he thinks the scary experience was actually educational for the audience.
"It shows people the power of these animals and what they're capable of," he said.
But not everyone agrees.
"Re-enacting a show is animal cruelty, is bad for the animals. It shouldn't be done," said "Gator Chris" Stephens, a licensed alligator hunter.
Stephens says he was disturbed by what he saw on the video.
"It sends a bad bad message (that) alligators bite people. They don't bite people unless you do something to them to make them bite you. Stay away from them," Stephens said.
Sherrer said Gator Country treats the animals humanely, rotating the gators they use for shows and taking care not to put them under any stress.