WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - An alligator wrestler has been released from the hospital after he sustained injuries to his hands when he was bitten by one of the large reptiles in Southwest Miami-Dade.
His hands bandaged, John Kyle Osceola Jr. spoke with 7News shortly after his release from Kendall Regional Medical Center, Monday afternoon.
Wrestling alligators has been Osceola’s day job for more than a year.
“I do gator wrestling. I’ve been doing the shows for over a year,” he said. “My first one was June 4th of last year.”
The gator handler entered the pit at the Miccosukee Indian Village in the Everglades, along Southwest Eighth Street, 18 miles west of Krome Avenue.
However, this showdown did not go as planned. Osceola was performing a move called the “close shaver face-off.”
“I have the [alligator’s] mouth open, have it under my chin,” he said.
At first, everything appeared to go as usual.
“I tried to cover the eyes and see if he keeps them closed, and then I go over the top and I bring it down,” he said. “Sometimes you can do one hand, sometimes I can just sit there.”
But this time, the gator did not play nice.
“I read it wrong, and he kind of shifted. His tooth touched my left hand and then clamped down, about, I guess, 1,500 pounds of biting pressure,” said Osceola. “That’s on average, you know.”
Pictures taken of the handler’s hands show puncture wounds near his knuckles and on his palm.
Osceola said he tried to stay as calm as he could in that moment to prevent the animal from panicking, and that the injury could have been much worse had he not known to stay calm when it happened.
“If you try to react, that’ll actually cause them to think that they actually have something,” said Osceola. “He could have thrashed, ripped my hand off or did a lot of things.”
A co-worker came to his rescue, as the stunned crowd looked on.
“I had to just sit there for 10 minutes, see what was going on,” said Osceola. “He just kept clamping in and out.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene just before 2 p.m.
Paramedics took Osceola to the hospital, where he was treated and released. He appeared to be conscious during transport, even waving to a 7News camera.
Osceola said the incident underscores how unpredictable gators can be.
“He’s a wild gator. He’s not tamed, trained or domesticated, sedated,” he said. “He can do anything, and I even say on the shows, ‘Have your cameras ready, ’cause you never know what’s gonna happen.'”
Osceola said he expects to return to the wrestling pit eventually, with some adjustments.
“I’m definitely going to rethink about the whole situation, what went wrong and try to reapply it for next time,” he said.
Osceola said he expects his puncture wounds to heal in a couple of months, and after that, he plans to head back to work.
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