Nine year old alligator wrestler

Unlike most nine year old girls Samantha Young doesn’t waste time playing with dolls or watching Glee, she wrestles eight foot long alligators.

Samantha began wrestling gators when she was just six years old, she lives near the Colorado Gators Reptile Park where her parents Jay and Erin work as managers.

“I have been wrestling alligators since I was six,” Samantha explains.

“I was taught by my father and mother to take on the gators and my dad has been wrestling and around them since he was bitten by one aged five. I was a bit scared at first but my dad was there and he always knows what to do with them.”

The Colorado Gators Reptile Park offers visitors the opportunity to learn how to handle alligators safely and responsibly, and young Samantha often takes part in these courses teaching grown men how to wrestle with the killer reptiles.

“It is all about getting your balance and position on top of the gator’s back so that you can control its mouth and neck,” Samantha said.

“Once you have that under your power, then you can pull its head back and you have tamed the gator. I need to know how to wrestle them because they are all around me so it is safer that way. And it looks cool for when my friends come round to the park. I like the looks on adults’ faces when they see me do it and I show them how.”

“Samantha is very proficient with the gators and wrestles the size of alligator that we involve the public with.” Samantha’s father Jay explained.

“We don’t let the public near the 600lb gators but we do let them tackle the 6ft to 8ft, 300lb ones.”