Gator bites boy after man takes it out of pen at amusement park

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Updated: July 12, 2011 9:47AM

A alligator at a Northwest Indiana family entertainment spot bit a 11-year-old boy after a man pulled the animal out of its fenced exhibit on Sunday and invited children to pet it.

The victim, Ryan Strand of Concord, N.C., was treated at the scene by emergency medical services, then taken to a hospital by his mother for additional care on his right index finger.

Katy Hurst, a manager at the Zao Island family entertainment center and amusement park in Valparaiso, called police immediately after the incident at 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

Alligators are kept in an outdoor pond, surrounded by a fence, near the miniature golf course along U.S. 30, and visitors can feed them hot dog chunks by dangling them from string attached to provided poles.

Hurst told police a man fashioned a noose out of one of the strings and used it to fish an alligator out of the enclosure. He then invited nearby children to pet it.

When it bit Ryan, the man put the alligator back into the exhibit and drove away in a dark-colored, extended cab pickup along with a woman and four children, one whom he carried through the parking lot, police said.

A Zao Island employee was able to identify the woman as a 24-year-old Portage resident, but police said she was uncooperative. Police said she would not answer her phone until a relative still at Zao Island encouraged her to do so. When she did speak to police, she would not provide the man’s name.

Representatives of the park declined to comment about the incident Monday.