Photo:Eustacia Kanter
Eustacia Kanter
A Florida alligator — rescued earlier this month after beingspotted with the top half of her jaw missing— has found a new home and a catchy name at Gatorland in Orlando.
“First of all, I want to thank everybody for all the wonderful names that were submitted,” McHugh said in the clip. “One of the names that kind of rung really clear with us, and grew on us, was a takeoff on one of Dolly’s famous songs, so we’re going to name this little gator ‘Jawlene.’”
Boan said the jawless gator “ate two mice all on her own." McHugh added, “She would get it back there, right up on the back of her tongue” before swallowing the rodents whole.
“She’s already gained, like, .3 grams of weight,” Boan noted. “So we’re real proud of her.”
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Jawlene first gained national attention after a woman spotted her on Aug. 29 in Sanford, Florida.
Eustacia Kanter told PEOPLE she took a photo of the alligator at Wilson’s Landing Park, and Katrina Shadix shared it onFacebookin an effort to get the animal medical assistance, writing, “Is anyone in the area that can HELP this poor alligator?”
The image showed the gator’s tongue sticking out and its snout ripped under the eyes. Shadix reached out to Kim Titterington, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, who told NBC affiliateWESHthat the alligator’s condition was “very shocking.”
“From the image I was provided, the alligator appears to have good body weight, and the injury healed over, but the continued survivability in the wild is slim,” Titterington told PEOPLE. “It could be from another alligator but the clean cut also suggests this animal was caught in a hunting snare.”
Shadix told PEOPLE she contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who informed her that the agency had officers searching for the alligator, which would receive care after being caught.
source: people.com
