Woman Enters Alligator Pit With Son To Retrieve Wallet Floating In Pond, Viral Video Shows

Video of a woman climbing into an alligator pit with son went viral on social media, prompting an investigation by the authorities. The incident took place at Safari North Wildlife Park in Brainerd, Minnesota, on Saturday, July 18.

The two-minute video showed the woman and her son jumping into a pit. While the boy wanders near the gator, the woman tries to retrieve her wallet floating in the middle of a small pond. In an attempt to distract the gators, the woman throws rocks at them. She then manages to get her wallet. Throughout the video, the witnesses can be heard shouting, "Don’t do that! You can get bitten by an alligator."

Speaking to Brainerd Patch Tuesday, Kevin Vogel, who owns the popular tourist attraction, said, "In all honesty, I know about as much as everybody else does. Apparently, a wallet got dropped into the enclosure, and they decided to jump in and go get it, and nobody was notified. We didn't know anything about it until the video started coming out."

"People make bad decisions sometimes without thinking things through. That safety, those barrier fences are there for your protection, for the animals’ protection. They’re there for a reason. And the main thing is to respect those fences," Vogel added.

He said that there are 35 alligators in the pit but luckily, they are "small."

"They’re only about 3 feet long. … They’re not going to rip your arm off, but they would definitely leave some stitches if they got a hold of you," he told the outlet.

Local law enforcement was investigating the incident.

"The sheriff was here this morning, doing an investigation, and it is completely out of our control now, you know, what the sheriff wants to do, so it’s in the hands of the sheriff’s department now if they want to pursue it or, you know, get her side of the story and drop it," Vogel told the outlet.

Meanwhile, the tourist attraction, which was created in 2014 by Vogel and his wife Kelly, features several animals including bears, tigers, and kangaroos.