ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Jen Anderson is the general curator of the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park.
Anderson was transferring one of the crocodiles in her care to a new facility Tuesday afternoon when it decided it had other plans.
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“On our last trip of the day through the van … the largest crocodilian of the day decided to break through the back window of the van ... We think we have the best plans laid out, the most secure and safe settings, and then they say, just watch this,” Anderson said.
“As soon as I saw that crocodile start to go up the wall, I let my curator know and before I had even said ‘oh he’s climbing up the back,’ he already pushed through the window and gone out of the van at that point,” said Karsyn McCreedy, another crocodilian expert who was in the passenger seat.
“So it’s a protocol we have during transport to make sure we have the appropriate capture equipment readily available. So she literally had it in her hand,” Anderson said. “So that’s exactly what I did; I grab my capture equipment … got out there was able to secure the animal.”
The pair had the croc captured in under three minutes.
“I got it on the first shot, if I can put it that way, so that was really kind of good to see how my training really kicked in at that point,” McCreedy said. “We weren’t panicking or anything we both just realized the situation and got it done.”
McCreedy tells me they train for these scenarios.
“I would expect everyone on my team to do the same,” she said.
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Anderson and McCreedy say they’ve never had this happen — and they don’t expect it to again — but they are glad they know who and what they’re working with.
“It’s part of working with animals, they are unpredictable. Just like working with people too,” Anderson said.
Today, the two women are being admired for their actions.
McCreedy added, “It’s kind of weird that everyone’s like ‘this is like girlboss stuff’ and stuff like that … this is what we do for a living!”
McCreedy says they appreciate the kind words and comments, even custom art that the public has created following the incident.
“It’s so cool to see the reactions of people being like, ‘wow you’re so inspiring,’” McCreedy said.
But for Anderson and McCreedy, such incidents are just another day at work.
“That’s just the nature of it, you have zookeepers and you have a lot more women applying,” Jen Anderson said of the field.
McCreedy says they hope more people will realize women have a big place in the wild. “Everyone’s thinking of the Steve Irwins but you know, what about the Bindi Irwins,” she said.
The crocodile that escaped doesn’t have a name yet. Anderson and McCreedy are still working on finding a fitting name for him but they say he was 150 pounds and nearly 8 feet long.
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