Former Winter Garden resident, 'gator girl' wrestles alligators

Ashley Lawrence is no stranger to wrestling alligators nearly twice her size. 

In fact, it’s something the former Winter Garden resident has done for years. And after 10 years of working with alligators, she has come face-to-face with hundreds of them.

Standing at just 4-foot-11 and weighing 115 pounds, Lawrence regularly wrestles with alligators much larger than her. She even was the female star of the Animal Planet show “Gator Boys.” 

But on Valentine’s Day weekend, Lawrence hit another milestone: She became the first woman to compete in the Freestyle Alligator Wrestling Competitions at Brighton Field Days.

WILDLIFE WARRIOR

Lawrence, 33, began handling wildlife and educating the public when she was 18 years old, working as a tiger trainer at Jungle Island. She performed wildlife shows with tigers, lions and more.

“That led me to volunteering at an alligator rescue, specifically for nuisance alligators,” said Lawrence, who now works in South Florida. “In the state of Florida, nuisance alligators unfortunately — because there are so many — many of them are euthanized. It’s kind of sad. The rescue I worked at for about six years, we would bring those alligators to different parks or different zoos and some of them would stay at the rescue.”

Those that stayed at the rescue were used for traditional Seminole alligator wrestling shows, which Lawrence said educated the public about the culture of alligator wrestling and alligator safety.

According to Florida Seminole Tourism, alligators and the Seminole Tribe have a longstanding history. Alligator wrestling once was used practically, as the tribe caught them for their hides and meat. They also were important during ceremonial practices, with the relationship between alligators and the Seminoles being one of respect. They played an integral role in trade, and eventually, alligators began to serve a new purpose for the Seminoles — tourism and showmanship.

“The alligator wrestling kind of stemmed from them hand-capturing the alligators and bringing them back alive,” Lawrence said. “They didn’t use knives or hooks or weapons: It’s all hand-capture. It’s so unique, and it’s why it gets so much attention, because it’s something people aren’t used to seeing. … It’s very exciting, it gets people’s attention, but also we can teach them about alligator safety and really drive home why it’s so important not to feed the alligators.

“That’s one of the No. 1 reasons why alligators become a nuisance,” she said.

In the early 2010s, Lawrence was the female star of the Animal Planet show “Gator Boys,” which ran for five seasons. It was a reality television series that followed two alligator trappers, Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle, as they captured nuisance alligators in the Florida Everglades.

“It really got the nation’s attention regarding alligator safety and changing the view of how people feel about alligators,” Lawrence said. “It changed the idea of an alligator being something that is feared to something people felt more stewardship toward. 

“It was such an incredible feeling to see people’s minds change about these alligators,” she said.

Although it brings her inherent fame, Lawrence’s favorite aspect of her work is its educational component.

“(I’ve had) people who are so afraid of alligators coming up to me and telling me they saw them in a different way, and they could think of them as these animals with colorful lives and amazing behaviors and learning about how alligators are such maternal animals,” Lawrence said. “It was incredible seeing people’s perceptions change about them. It’s a hard job, but it’s incredibly rewarding.”

And her biggest supporter is her mother, Winter Garden resident Andrea LoCicero-Orr. Although LoCicero-Orr often worries about her daughter wrestling animals twice her size, Lawrence said her mother is someone who always has supported her in her wildlife endeavors.

“She is not a wild-animal wrangler by any means, but she definitely allows me to do what I need to do,” Lawrence said. “She is somebody who has always supported and made allowances for her crazy animal-lover daughter.”

WRESTLING WOMAN

When it comes to alligator wrestling competitions, Lawrence is breaking stereotypes.

As a petite woman in a male-dominated field, she continually proves her skills and showmanship in a way that is respectful to the alligators and captivating to the crowds. At her size, she said, the core skill that allows her to do what she does is understanding animal behavior. 

"… It’s very exciting, it gets people’s attention, but also we can teach them about alligator safety and really drive home why it’s so important not to feed the alligators." - Ashley Lawrence

“I feel like that is the magic behind what it is that I do,” she said. “Once you understand the animal’s drive and its movements, it allows you to work with them in a way that you don’t necessarily have to overpower the gator or hurt the animal or anything like that. It’s just a matter of understanding how they move and what drives them, and that allows me to work around them.”

Because traditional Seminole-style alligator wrestling doesn’t involve physical harm to the gators or the use of weapons, it’s also less likely to rile the animals up — something that helps tremendously when gator wrestling.

But despite having wrestled gators for years, the freestyle alligator wrestling competition Feb. 15 and 16 in Brighton was Lawrence’s first official competition. The Seminole Tribe purchases nuisance alligators from trappers, and the gators will have one six-minute competition before being retired to tribal lands in the Everglades, she said.

“As somebody who has a deep love and respect for these animals, knowing that these animals only have six (minutes) in the arena with us professionals and then they get to go to freedom, that’s incredibly important to me,” Lawrence said. 

Lawrence said she had no desire to compete until other competitors approached her saying they would be honored if she would be the first woman to wrestle in the competition. It was an opportunity to step into the arena, break stereotypes and show young girls and women that they, too, can do whatever they’re passionate about.

“There aren’t a lot of women who work with alligators — there’s only a handful of us — and there are even fewer tribal women who work with alligators,” she said. “When some of the tribal wrestlers came to me and said, ‘We think it would be a wonderful thing for you to show people that you have what it takes to work with these animals, I think that it could change some hearts and minds about it,’ I thought it was important. 

“I know in my heart that I am a person — not just a woman — but a person who has a career of conservation and respect for the wildlife of Florida and especially alligators, so if there was going to be a woman to enter this competition, I thought, ‘Why not me?’” she said. 

Her first competition lasted six minutes, during which she wrestled an 8 1/2-foot alligator that weighed between 150 and 200 pounds. She ended up picking it up in her arms. The second day, she wrestled an alligator measuring at least 9 feet in length and weighing more than 200 pounds. Overall, she placed fifth out of 10 competitors.

“I definitely come from a place of humility, respect and knowledge, and I really hope people can see that just by looking at the size of me compared to these magnificent animals,” she said.