The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree … even if there’s a 15-foot alligator waiting underneath.
Deep in the thick Louisiana swamp, Mike Kliebert has been training his 5-year-old son to join the family business and learn how to wrestle massive gators at their family farm, Barcroft reports.
The gator-wrangling dad hopes that his son, Blaise, will one day be able to take over the Kliebert Gator Farm in Hammond, which is the largest and oldest in the world.
Started by Kliebert’s grandfather Harvey in the 1930s, the farm is home to 2,500 alligators. Visitors can take swamp tours and even catch young Blaise going toe-to-toe with the deadly beasts.
The farm’s star attraction can be seen with his dad happily straddling the back of Chinaman, a 12-foot gator.
But Blaise’s mom, Sara Bordelon, hasn’t exactly warmed to the idea of her son wrestling with the 1,000-pound predators.
After receiving a bite from one of the gators on the farm, she now hopes he will be heading to college rather than their local swamp.