Mosca, Colorado, 719/378-2612, www.coloradogators.com
The Young family had been in the fish business, raising their trademark Rocky Mountain Tilapia for restaurants and local markets, for a decade when they struck upon an innovative way to get rid of the dead fish that would invariably float in their farm’s waters. They bought 100 gators from Florida in 1987 and tossed them in geothermally heated waters that simmered at a steady 87 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Youngs didn’t know if the gators would survive the first Rocky Mountain winter, but pretty much all of them did, and as of the twenty-first century years, the Youngs are in the gator farm business, an unlikely enterprise in the San Luis Valley. The farm is now home to over 300 gators (the Youngs got the breeding down pat after a few years), the largest of which are more than ten feet long and about 500 pounds. In the snow-packed winters, the big reptilians even like to climb up on the snow and soak in the sun’s rays. Weather permitting, gator-wrestling classes are available. You can also pose for a picture with the farm’s currently most docile specimen in your hands for a “Certificate of Bravery,” personally punched and authenticated by the runt’s teeth.
The Young family had been in the fish business, raising their trademark Rocky Mountain Tilapia for restaurants and local markets, for a decade when they struck upon an innovative way to get rid of the dead fish that would invariably float in their farm’s waters. They bought 100 gators from Florida in 1987 and tossed them in geothermally heated waters that simmered at a steady 87 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Youngs didn’t know if the gators would survive the first Rocky Mountain winter, but pretty much all of them did, and as of the twenty-first century years, the Youngs are in the gator farm business, an unlikely enterprise in the San Luis Valley. The farm is now home to over 300 gators (the Youngs got the breeding down pat after a few years), the largest of which are more than ten feet long and about 500 pounds. In the snow-packed winters, the big reptilians even like to climb up on the snow and soak in the sun’s rays. Weather permitting, gator-wrestling classes are available. You can also pose for a picture with the farm’s currently most docile specimen in your hands for a “Certificate of Bravery,” personally punched and authenticated by the runt’s teeth.
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