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WORLD-HERALD (Omaha, Nebraska) 26 August 07 Nebraska State Fair: Despite objections, alligator show proves crowd-pleaser (Paul Hammel)
State Fair Park: When State Sen. Ernie Chambers wants to, he can bring debate in the Nebraska Legislature to a grinding halt.
But the show went on Saturday at the State Fair, despite Chambers' complaint that an alligator display exploited the wild swamp reptiles.
"Kachunga and the Alligator" played to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 450 people during the 12:30 p.m. show.
Two Floridians with bulging biceps, Gil and Dave Castillo, mixed sibling gags with a 20-minute program billed as "wildlife entertainment and education."
Large crowds across State Fair Park, coupled with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s, helped strike positive vibes during the first full day of the fair, which continues through Labor Day.
Barney Cosner, executive director of the State Fair, credited the great weather.
"When Mother Nature is beautiful, she is beautiful beyond description," said Cosner, who was hired away from the Wyoming State Fair a year ago.
As for Kachunga, the State Fair sent a letter Thursday to Chambers, saying no "type of cruelty, mistreatment or exploitation of animals" is accepted or tolerated at the fair.
Chambers was invited to visit and see the safeguards used at the many animal events and displays on the fairgrounds.
Cosner said the Kachunga show, which began in 1982, has no history of animal abuse or complaints. "It's well documented that there's no problems," he said.
Gil Castillo, who served as master of ceremonies as his younger brother wrestled an 8½-foot gator from a shallow pool onto a stage, said it's been a decade since he's heard a complaint about the show. He said the hundreds of alligators used by the Kachunga traveling shows are treated better than most family pets.
"We do this for a living," said Castillo, who lives in Dade City, Fla. "If we mistreated them, it would be counterproductive."
Chambers, reached by telephone as he was cleaning up storm damage in his north Omaha neighborhood, said he understood the State Fair's quandary - it had already booked the Kachunga show - but he was still upset that officials did not cancel the show.
"The fair needs all the help they can get. They certainly don't need to create opponents, and they've created considerable opposition on my part," Chambers said. He noted that the Legislature will have a say on the possible moving of the fairgrounds to make way for expansion of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Chambers said he objected to putting the alligators "under stress for no reason other than cheap entertainment." He also said the Kachunga show's Web site reference to a gator handler as "a real American bushman" was racist.
Castillo, the Kachunga announcer, said the show educates people about alligators, which have rebounded from near extinction to number an estimated 1 million in Florida alone.
During the show, he mixed jokes with information about the number of alligator teeth (80), why alligators sometimes attack humans, how Seminole Indians used to subdue alligators and how the reptile's eyes contract to avoid danger.
"Right behind the eyes is a very small brain," Castillo said as his brother sat atop a gator, pointing at its eyes. "And the alligator's got one just like it."
The audience laughed at the jibe at Castillo's brother and "oohed" and "aahed" throughout the program, particularly when Dave Castillo reached inside the gator's mouth, pulling it away just as the mouth clamped shut with a loud "clap."
"We try to have a little fun and teach you a little about alligators," Gil Castillo told the audience.
As the show ended, Harry Allen of Omaha said he couldn't see anything that could cause concern about mistreatment.
Lea Little of Arlington Heights, Ill., gave the same assessment, moments after her 7-year-old daughter, Raegan, was picked to touch and sit atop the alligator along with "Kachunga."
"I don't see these animals being hurt at all," Little said. "Kids have a lot of interest in reptiles. It was really interesting and very entertaining.
"It's a lot more humane than a circus," she added, saying she objected to striking circus animals to make them perform.
Despite objections, alligator show proves crowd-pleaser

...I tend to agree with the congressman. Gator wrestling is simply a dinosaur. There are better ways.
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CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'