Man wrestles alligator at the zoo potentially saving handlers life

TikToker Dave Franks went viral after uploading a video where a man jumps into an alligator enclosure to help a handler trapped by an animal.

A TikTok video featuring a potentially deadly alligator incident from June 5 has picked up over 48.5 million views. The caption featured in the video reads: “Guest saved alligator handler at the zoo.”

In the footage, an alligator handler gets her hand caught by the animal during feeding, the alligator proceeds to drag the handler toward the water, and once in it, the animal barrel rolls violently, yanking the handler underwater.

At that point, zoo guests who were watching the feeding realize that something went wrong, and one of them screams out “We’ve got a problem over here,” trying to get other staff member’s attention.

The same man tries to pull the handler away from the water before she instructs the man to mount the animal to prevent it from being able to freely move. The man heroically jumps into the water and does as the handler asked, potentially saving her arm or even her life.

TikTok reacts to a man saving a zookeeper from an alligator

TikTok users in the comments section commended the man’s bravery for putting himself in danger without hesitation to help the alligator handler.

“Wow, that man was at the right place at the right time,” wrote one user. And another agrees by stating: “That’s a hero, right there!”

Eventually, the handler managed to free her hand and got dragged away by another bystander, the man sitting on top of the alligator was then instructed to keep the animal’s mouth closed and to slowly rise to his feet and get out of the enclosure, which he successfully does in the end.

While the story went viral on TikTok just a couple of days ago, it’s worth noting that it’s simply a repost of a clip that circulated the media and the internet since 2021.

Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, as all parties got away from the alligator’s enclosure on their own two feet. For more viral videos and stories related to entertainment, be sure to check out our coverage on Dexerto.