Largest Alligator Health Check in Australian Reptile Park History Completed After Dangerous Two Day Operation.
It was all hands on deck at the Australian Reptile Park as keepers undertook the biggest alligator health check in the Park’s history, catching, checking and marking all 53 American alligators across two exhausting days.
The annual pre-winter checks are always a major job, but this year came with extra urgency. After an unusually active breeding season and increased fighting in the alligator lagoon, keepers were concerned some animals could be carrying hidden wounds beneath the waterline.
Those concerns followed the recent capture of Steve, a 28 year old American alligator who had sustained serious injuries during clashes within the group’s strict hierarchy.
“Steve had some pretty serious wounds, and while he’s doing okay, we couldn’t take any chances with the rest of the lagoon,” said Park Manager Billy Collett.
“There has been a lot of fighting this year, so we needed to make sure every alligator was healthy before winter.”
With the lagoon now home to the highest number of alligators it has ever held, the scale of the operation was bigger than anything the team had attempted before.
Led by Billy Collett, 15 keepers worked in two groups to keep the process moving safely and efficiently. At any given time, two alligators were ashore and restrained while teams swapped animals in and out as checks were completed.
Every movement had to be controlled. American alligators are powerful, fast and unpredictable, especially when being brought out of the water by rope.
“This is something we do every year, but never at this scale,” Billy Collett said.
“You’re working right beside animals that can move incredibly fast when they want to, so everyone had to be sharp the whole time.”
Once secured, keepers checked microchips, assessed each alligator’s condition and marked them with animal-safe paint to show they had been completed. Some alligators required full restraint, while others could be checked visually.
The physical toll on the team was immediate, with keepers left with blistered hands after pulling alligators from the lagoon over two long days.
As the operation neared the end, the final captures became even trickier. Keepers had to lure the remaining alligators to shore with food, which meant multiple large animals could approach at once.
“Once food is involved, they all come in excited,” Billy Collett said. “You might only need one alligator, but suddenly you’ve got several big animals right in front of you. That’s when the team really has to stay switched on.”
One of the biggest moments of the operation came when the team captured Ivan, the biggest alligator in Australia and the lagoon’s alpha male. It took seven keepers to pull him ashore safely.
“Ivan is an absolute powerhouse,” Billy Collett said. “Getting him out safely was a huge effort from the team.”
The good news is that most of the alligators were found to be in excellent health. Four will remain under close watch, including Ivan, as keepers continue monitoring the lagoon heading into the colder months.
The timing of the checks was critical. As winter sweeps across NSW, alligators enter brumation, a period where their metabolism slows and they become far less active. Any untreated wounds can become a serious problem during this time, making the pre-winter checks an essential part of their care.
“Winter is the big concern,” Billy Collett said. “If an alligator goes into brumation with an injury, it can become a real problem. With the amount of fighting we’ve seen this year, getting these checks done before winter was absolutely essential.”
Visitors can see all 53 American alligators in their lagoon every day at the Australian Reptile Park.