Juan Rios shrugged as he carved out a juicy tenderloin from a 2,5m alligator that was brought to him bound and gagged but still kicking.
The gator scare that has swept Florida ”was long overdue,” says Rios (42) throwing the choice cut into a bloody bucketful of meat that only a few hours ago was a potentially deadly animal.
The reptile was brought to All American Gator Products by a trapper licensed by the state of Florida to capture so-called ”nuisance” alligators, found in ponds, canals or parking lots in dangerous proximity to human residents.
”I wouldn’t want to mess with one of those in its territory,” said Rios, after skinning and butchering the reptile.
Gator hunters say their phones have been ringing off the hook since three women died earlier this month in otherwise rare fatal alligator attacks.
Just a few days ago, trapper Todd Hardwick caught a 272kg monster behind a parking lot near the busy Miami International airport.
Hardwick took that one to a gator zoo, but many of the gators caught in south-eastern Florida end up being chopped up by Rios.
Once the latest catch is delivered, tied up and its snout tightly shut with duct tape, Rios cuts its spinal cord to put the animal out of its misery, before he carefully separates the meat from the valuable hide.
The hide will be tanned and eventually transformed into one of the costly products sold by the four-man company located in an industrial area just north of Miami.
A backroom is cluttered with finished products awaiting delivery, including a motorcycle saddle, golf bags, vests, a mounted four-metre monster gator and ladies’ purses that fetch upward of $1 200.
Budget-minded but not overly fashion-conscious buyers may want to look at the novelty items the company offers on line, including gator foot backscratchers, gator tooth earrings or a pair of bookend skulls.
Nothing is wasted, and whatever is not processed as meat or leather goods is boiled into a goop and used to manufacture soap.
”It’s a renewable resource,” jokes Rios.
Florida has between one and two million wild alligators, a close relative of the crocodile. Most of them live in uninhabited marshlands, but experts say they are increasingly competing for space with humans, as the south-eastern US state’s cities grow ever larger.
Wildlife authorities get about 15 000 alligator-related complaints each year, most of them following sightings of gators in backyard ponds, canals, ditches and streams, but also for attacks on pets and livestock.
Long considered an unavoidable fact of life in Florida, and a major tourist attraction, alligators seem to have become public enemy number one since three people fell victim to their powerful jaws this month.
A young woman apparently was dragged from shore into a canal. Her arms were found in the digestive tract of an alligator caught a few days later. Another woman was killed while snorkeling and the lacerated body of a third victim was found floating in a canal.
Until then, only 17 fatal attacks had been reported since 1948. Experts believe a prolonged drought had caused alligators to move toward populated areas in search of water. Because it is mating season, the reptiles are also particularly aggressive at this time of year.
Wildlife officials have reiterated their warnings not to feed wild alligators, as this leads the animals to associate humans with food.
All American Gator Products, for its part, recommends stir-frying the reptiles with soy sauce and ginger, frying them with eggs and buttermilk, or slapping them on the barbecue with herbs and spices.
Rios, though, confesses he is not that keen on the light-grained, low-fat meat.
Does it taste like chicken?
”No, that’s a myth,” says Rios. ”It’s not fishy either, it has a taste of its own.”