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Four to ten animals died in the blaze, depending on whose report you read.

http://www.cfnews13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=20049

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-11-06T150854Z_01_N06424555_RTRUKOC_0_US-LEISURE-FIRE.xml

ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 07 November 06 When smoke clears, go visit Gatorland (Mike Thomas)
I turned on a morning news show while ironing my shirt, and watched the billowing black smoke engulf the picture tube.
The announcer said something about a Florida attraction called Gatorland. I almost grabbed a bucket of water and headed over.
Save the Jaws!
The Magic Kingdom has Cinderella Castle. Epcot has Spaceship Earth. But both pale in splendor and historical significance to the gaping concrete maw that graces the entrance to Gatorland.
It is the Mouth of the South, the original Gator Chomp.
And there it was, surrounded in a haze of smoke, looking very much like a fire-breathing dragon between breaths.
Gatorland is like its reptile namesake, a living relic from our prehistoric past. Disney was the meteor that destroyed Circus World, JungleLand, Boardwalk and Baseball, the original Cypress Gardens, Six Gun Territory, Six Flags Stars Hall of Fame Wax Museum, Church Street Station, and so on and so forth.
But Gatorland was the dinosaur that not only survived Mickey's impact but thrived. Last year, Gatorland set a record for revenues.
It was started in 1949 by an avid hunter and butcher named Owen Godwin, and was called Florida Wildlife Institute. He made a lake out of a hole that was dug by road builders to get fill dirt. His first star was "Swamp Boy," a 6-foot gator that would come when he called.
Admission was free, with donations taken for animal feed.
Godwin changed the name to Snake Village in the early 1950s, to Gatorland in 1954 and built the trademark jaws entrance in the early '60s. I moved to Kissimmee in 1983, when an equally historic event occurred.
For years, theme parks had promoted jumping dolphins and killer whales. And so the folks at Gatorland thought, "Hey, if they can do it . . . "
At first, chicken carcasses were dangled only a foot over the water so the gators simply had to reach up for them. But then the chickens were raised. Reaching became lunging. They were raised higher. And lunging became jumping.
Gator Jumparoo was born.
Gatorland had produced the world's first performing alligators.
Ripley's Believe It or Not quickly showed up to shoot video.
The next year, a film crew from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom filmed Gatorland gators chomping on a meat-stuffed dummy.
Gatorland recently made USA Today's list of "10 great places to feel dwarfed by kitsch."
Gatorland made national news when it sent crews to capture a wayward alligator named Reggie that was causing panic in Los Angeles, and to rescue a hapless alligator named Harvey that had spent 15 years living in a middle-school basement in New York.
If you have not been to Gatorland, you have not been to Florida. And it's not just the leapin' lizards. It's the gator wrasslin', the moms snapping photos of their kids sitting on the back of a live gator, the antiquated train ride, the goofy Bubbas and their corn-pone jokes. It's so unpolished, so laid-back, so un-Disney.
Gatorland is a time capsule from a better time. So please go when the doors open again to ensure it rises from the ashes.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-miket0706nov07,0,2464100.column?coll=orl-home-headlines

THE LEDGER (Lakeland, Florida) 07 November 06 Fire Strikes Orlando Attraction - Early-Morning Blaze Damages Famed Entrance, Kills 3 Animals (Travis Reed)
Orlando (AP): A three-alarm fire broke out in one of central Florida's oldest attractions early Monday morning, killing three animals but injuring no one at Gatorland.
The blaze charred the concrete alligator mouth tourists walked through to enter the park - a piece of old Florida that has appeared in movies, magazines and countless tourists' pictures.
Gatorland spokeswoman Michelle Harris said two 8-foot-long pythons kept in a holding pen near the gift shop were dead, as was a 5-foot-long crocodile.
Another crocodile named Mr. O, who was kept in the same area, was feared dead, but was later found alive, she said. He had managed to stay safe by dipping under water in a pond, Harris said.
The other few thousand of the park's animals were kept in pens away from the fire or in enough water to protect them.
The fire, reported at 5:55 a.m., destroyed the park's 7,000-square-foot gift shop, entrance and some administrative offices. Other office space and the places where Gatorland entertainers perform were not damaged.
The park opened in 1949 and attracts about 400,000 tourists each year. It features exhibitions of people wrestling alligators, a "jumparoo" show in which the big reptiles leap for food, and "up close" encounters where guests can hold snakes, scorpions, spiders and birds.
Orange County Fire Battalion Chief Vince Preston said the souvenir store was engulfed in flames when the first crews arrived.
"It had already been through the roof; it was obvious that this was going to be an extended operation," he said.
Preston said it took about two hours to get the blaze under control. It was finally declared out, despite some nagging hot spots, at about 12:30 p.m.
The fire destroyed the park's main entrance and marred its most distinctive feature: a giant, concrete alligator head, whose jaw is now blackened with soot and is full of debris. The mural facade around it, which had just been given a fresh coat of paint in a $1.5 million overhaul, was torn and burnt. The cypress and palm trees lining the outside were singed and limp.
The fire destroyed the park's 7,000-square-foot gift shop and some offices and marred its famous entrance, a giant alligator mouth.
Harris said the giant alligator mouth was still potentially salvageable.
She said officials would try to reopen the park as soon as possible, but it was unclear how quick that may be. They will have to devise another entrance for guests.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061107/NEWS/611070406/1004

ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 08 November 06 Gatorland eyes Nov. 22 opening (Christopher Boyd)
As fire investigators sorted through the wreckage of Gatorland's entrance hall and gift shop, the theme park's management set a goal Tuesday of reopening in two weeks.
Gatorland President Mark McHugh hopes for a speedy recovery from a fire that gutted the park's 7,000-square-foot main building and damaged the giant concrete alligator jaws that for more than 40 years were its entrance.
'We had a plan in place for the last two or three years for what we would do if we were to lose part of the front end of our park,' McHugh said. 'We considered things like a truck running into the gator mouth, but not something as big as this.'
But McHugh said it could have been even worse. Firefighters prevented the blaze from incinerating the corporate offices, which were attached to the entrance hall, sparing the company's records.
'We have recovered all our records,' McHugh said. 'We had the file server that backed up our computer files off site.'
The only animal casualties were a dwarf crocodile and two pythons kept in the gift shop.
If all goes well, McHugh said, the park could reopen as soon as Nov. 22. It would try to borrow ticket booths from other attractions, he said. And an air-conditioned building near the center of the park could serve as a temporary gift shop. Replacing the entrance hall itself will take more time.
'I project the rebuilding will take at least a year -- maybe a little sooner,' McHugh said.
Investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office examined the remnants of the burned building Tuesday, but by late afternoon they hadn't determined what caused the blaze.
Jerry Aldrich, president of Amusement Industry Consulting in Orlando, said the Gatorland fire offers evidence for why amusement parks and tourist attractions should have detailed emergency plans.
'Crisis management is very important,' Aldrich said. 'It is important to develop a plan so that, when something does happen, you have acted it out and you are ready.'
Mark Brisson, marketing manager for Fun Spot, a small amusement park off International Drive in Orlando, said the Gatorland fire is stirring his attraction to action.
'The tragedy at Gatorland is prompting us to put our house in order,' Brisson said. 'We will use our hurricane plan for a fire plan.'
Brisson said Fun Spot now keeps important paper records and contracts on site but would likely start storing important documents at multiple locations.
'We would want to have our employee lists located away from the property,' he said. 'We need a safer place to back up contracts and other important paperwork. We will make these changes because of what happened to Gatorland.'

Paperboy note: There is a detailed overhead photo of the damage located at the URl below. Other ground-level photos of the fire and subsequent destruction can be found at: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-gatorpg110606,0,6831020.photogallery. respects all, Wes
Gatorland eyes Nov. 22 opening

Photos and video links at URL following this item

ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 08 November 06 Heating pad in snake exhibit sparked Gatorland fire (Beth Kassab)
A reptile heating pad in the snake exhibit caused the fire that destroyed Gatorland's main entrance, gift shop and some offices, the state fire marshal said today.
Monday's fire was ruled accidental, State Fire Marshal Det. Bill Newman said. The conclusion was reached based on evidence in the fire rubble that was traced to the snake exhibit where two pythons died. One dwarf crocodile also was killed the blaze reported at 5:55 a.m. Monday.
Newman said the fire in the Orange County attraction raged out of control so quickly because the building was mostly made of wood and because of the amount of clothing and other fire fuel in the gift shop.
"The debris pile was at least three to five feet high," Newman said of the scene.
A news conference is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Gatorland's owners have vowed to reopen on Nov. 22.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-bk-gatorland11082006,0,473503.story?coll=orl-news-headlines

CENTRAL FLORIDA NEWS (Orlando, Florida) 08 November 06 Gatorland Fire Ruled Accidental
The state fire marshals office tells News 13 they are ruling the fire accidental. It was apparently an electrical fire that started in the snake exhibit.
They believe that a heating pad somehow ignited combustible materials in the same area.
Fire gutted the building Monday and investigators still don't know what caused the blaze.
Firefighters discovered an amazing sight as they combed through the ashes. One of the dwarf crocodiles believed to have died in the fire was found alive.
Mike Hileman from Gatorland said, "The staff is good. We've got some of the key people here looking after the animals. Our facilities crew is working really hard trying to clean up, making it safe for everybody to walk around, but spirits are high. This is just kind of a bump in the road."
Gatorland's President says they hope to reopen November 22nd, just in time for the busy Thanksgiving weekend.
It was thought that the gator jaws icon at the front of the park was destroyed but the concrete structure is still there.
It will take about a year to rebuild the gift shop and main entrance areas.
Gatorland is Central Florida's first tourist attraction; it opened in 1949 as the Florida Wildlife Institute.
It was renamed Gatorland in 1954, after being called Snake Village for a brief time.
At 110-acres, Gatorland is known as the "Alligator Capital Of The World."

There are a couple of interesting G-Land related links at the URL
Gatorland Fire Ruled Accidental