Overview
- Kat Daley, a 22-year-old McNeese State graduate, posed with a 14-foot alligator named Big Al in a senior photoshoot that spread widely online.
- Daley says she helps run Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, with her fiancé Eddie, and works with Big Al and another longtime park alligator, Big Tex.
- She and photographer Laura Oglesbee say the alligators were trained for such handling and that the session was planned with safety in mind.
- Gator Country spans 15 acres and houses about 450 alligators at a time, taking in around 250 each year as nuisance rescues.
- Daley, who began wildlife rehabilitation at age 7, says she will keep running the facility after graduating to focus on conservation and public education.