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Female Alligator Wrestler Gets Attention

Posted on: Monday, 15 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

Babs Steorts' wrestling opponents are dirty fighters: they bite, squirm and have angry dispositions. They're also alligators and crocodiles.

Steorts is adjusting to the national attention she has received in the nearly three years she has been wrestling gators and crocs at Gatorland, an Orlando, Fla., tourist attraction.

She and four others routinely go snout-to-snout with the park's 700 alligators and 200 crocodiles during 11 daily shows.

"But the marketing department has a heyday with me, so I probably get a little more publicity than the rest of the wrestlers," Steorts said last week.

The graduate of East Fairmont High School and Fairmont State College appeared on NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Show contributor and actor-director Kevin Smith featured her in a segment on roadside attractions.

Steorts says she can't keep track of how many interviews she has given to networks.

"I'm not even sure what gets used and what doesn't," she said.

Besides, her attention is on the crocs - not the TV cameras.

"You can count on (the crocodiles) trying to bite you," Steorts said.

She's putting her bachelor of science degree in biology from Fairmont State to good use. She is turning her focus away from wrestling demonstrations and concentrating on animal care.

"I will probably work with animals for the rest of my life," she said.

But, she added, "I would like to know what my professors think of me now."

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