| The recent postings about the alligator shows bring to mind this monster. He was Gomek, a salt water crocodile. I believe him to have been teh largest crocoddilian (crocs, gators and caimans) ever shwon alive in USA. He is seen here at the St. Augustine Alligaator Farm and Zoolofical Garden. He was brought to the USA by ARthur Jones of baby African elephatn fame. Jones had a thign ffor gian reptles and kept Gomek at his Jombolair Ranch near Ocala. |
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Gomek-StAugGator Farm (From Richard Reynolds)
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Arthur Jones had an amazing collection of "giants." Of course he was the inventor of the Nautilus equipment, and as I understood it he was particularly interested in how reptiles developed muscle mass. A friend of mine who worked at the ranch in the late 1970's showed me around several times, and the collection included species that you just never, ever saw back them -- like diamond pythons. Gene Bessette in Gainesville had Indian pythons at the time that came from stock from the ranch -- they were no longer imported from India/Pakistan under CITES regs -- and he was regularly pumping them up from hatching to 14' and 150 pounds in 10-12 months. Incredible growth rates. And the ranch had the nicest Nile crocs I ever saw. Like White Oak, it was an amazing place to visit.
Ben,
All I ever knew of Arthur Jones was that big elephant importation. I did not know he had other species. Was it like a zoo, smaller cages, or a safari park like place. Is it still around, or has it been developed. Didn't Roland Lindeman, from Catskill have a similar place to Live Oak's. Do you know if it is still around?
Thanks,
Wade Burck
Wade, the ranch was really a private airport. Jones had his own jumbo-jet, I believe. The rich and famous used to fly in there on their way to Disney and such. I don't know that the animal collection was ever open to the public. Everything was first class, but utilitarian. I think it's a fly-in "gated community" now.
Don't know if Mr Lindemann had a Florida place. I'm sure Buckles would know, as he logged time at Catskill.
Yes the Catskill Game Farm had a place in Florida near Williston but all they kept there was hoof stock.
I used to drive by there on the way to Ted's place.
I think the place you are mention is not a private fly in community. The actor John Travolta has a place there among many others. It is in the Gainesville area.
That is some huge gator.
Please excuse the horrid horrid screw ups (mispellings etc) in the main message) I do not know what happened. I like my wine but swear I was OK when I composed it.
Here is the way it should read.
The recent postings about the alligator shows bring to mind this monster. He was Gomek, a salt water crocodile. I believe him to have been the largest crocodilian (crocs, gators and caimans) ever shown alive in USA. He is seen here at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Garden. He was brought to the USA by Arthur Jones of baby African elephant fame. Jones had a thing for giant reptiles and kept Gomek at his Jombolair Ranch near Ocala.
When Gomek died at St. Augustine on 6 March 1997 he was 17 feet, 9 inches long and weighed an estimated 1,800 pounds. In the late 1970s or early 1980s Jones had obtained Gomek from George J. Craig, an Australian, who owns Mainland Melanesia at Green Island. It is located 17 nautical miles offshore from Cairns, Queensland.
As is well known, salt water crocodiles are the largest and most dangerous of all such animals. They are real man eaters and have taken many an unfortunate soul in the waterwawys, beaches and estuaries of northern Australia. Steve Irwin, the late "Crocodile Hunter" of TV fame, had a lot of salties on his programs and often called out, "Danger, Danger, Danger" when close to them.
The largest salt water ever measured was one shot in Australia by a school teacher that measured an astonishing 28.2 ft.long. The largest one now on record is a 25.3ft. specimen living in a wildlife sanctuary in Orissa, India.
Believe me, no animal stunt man would dare try to wrestle such an animal.
It is in the Ocala area...In fact a car load of kids were killed on the runway this winter...the airstrip was used by locals to drag race....a Big lawsuit is taking place now as to whether it was to accessable.......JZ
The Jones place is now owned by John Travolta and he, like Jones gets heat about the landing strip from neighbors. I have been out there numerous times during the Jone3s years. The end of the lainding strip was a huge concrete circle wall, maybe 200 ft. diameter and fifteen to twenty ft. high. Likie a James Bond movie. He had his own Boeing 702 parkede in there plus other aircraft. He could walk from the opening in that circle easily to his home and in one side of the opening in a huge cage built in the wall was a huge Silver Back Gorilla that would greet him and others coming or going. His front yard had the facility for that huge croc and he nhad a reptile garden of all types of alligators and snakes. Plus he had some thirty African elephants destroying what had been one of those ritzy horse farms. He always had a good looking blonde broad around him. What a nut.
Gomek is still on display at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. As you walk one of the paths you enter a building with a low light level and stand eye to eye with the mounted monster -- gets your attention. (No saddle on him, sorry Gee Gee.) The park does have a live pair of salt water crocs, the male's about 16 feet.
Ben T. may know; I think Arthur Jones purchased the great collection of the California Alligator Farm in Buena Park and moved it to FL.
In the early 1960s I was at the Cincinnati Zoo. Jones kept a few animals, including a young orangutan, at the Zoo as he readied an animal show at the Music Hall. I worked on the Zoo's weekly TV show with Arthur as he pulled a king cobra out of a small crate and then, eventually, got it back in -- lots of wild reptile wrangling. A few days later, the day before the show opened, radio news interupted programing to tell of a plane load of alligators circling a small airport because it couldn't get the landing gear down. "Oh my, what will they do!" Get a lot of publicity. After they left town the FFA found out the pilot was an expert in belly-landings.
Richard Reynolds,
I was going to give Buckles and Dick Flint a couple of more day, to correct you spelling, then I was going to "attempt" to help. Good patch with the wine deal though. Can I use it on occasion. LOL
Col,
Historically a private zoo, and a good looking broad have always gone
arm in arm, so to speak, don't you think.
Wade Burck
Jim A -- He did have at least some of the Buena Park animals. I believe a few went to the Aquarium in San Francisco too.
Didn't know about the 25' in India. In Cairns there's a big guy called "Sarge" who's a solid 17' with enormous body mass. The male Orinoco crocs can carry a lot of body mass and the 15'-16' animals were enormous, but they're virtually gone in the wild. For a long time St Augustine and every other alligator attraction claimed authoritatively that the biggest american croc killed in FL in 19' (mouthed it myself many a time)... but I'm pretty sure 14-15' would have been closer to the truth.
Some of the crocs have just scared the heck out of me. You can "work" with alligators until they're too heavy to manipulate, but a lot of crocs are aggressive from day one. Once they hit 7-8 feet about the only thing left to "show" is a feeding response. Poking into nests at Brus Lagoon in Honduras didn’t take long for me to figure out that if “mom” was 9’ long and within 50 yards she had an edge on me.. In some of the Garifuna towns on the beach in Belize even the 7' Morelet's crocs will stalk kids, and dogs can be snack food.
But they’re cute when they’re young.
The king cobra story reminds me of another. Ross Allen had has reptile attraction at Silver Springs for thirty-some years before he sold it and went to St Augustine to do the snake shows there. About a year before his death he partnered with a god old boy from TN named Nenny Bush to open a new alligator farm in Lake City. It barely opened, and Ross got sick, and Kenny could make more money snakehunting in the Osceolo Forest and selling diamondbacks to other attractions. But there was thing great king cobra there, probably 12' and just a sweetheart. You could dump it on the lawn and slap the tail and she would hood up and hold the pose and she wasn't at all defensively aggressive. Anyway, Kenny decided to sell her pretty cheap to the first person to show up with cash. I was in Gainesville, but my car needed a starter so I hitch-hiked up to Lake City, paid for the snake, put her in a snakebag and stuck it into a backpack and started thumbing home. I wandered a little too far down the ramp on I-75 and a Fl State cop came along and stopped to check my ID and to tell me to go back to the top of the ramp. Anyway, he asked if he could look in the pack. I said, "Yes sir, but there's a big cobra in there and it would be better if you let me show you." I put the bag on the shoulder and untied the knot, snake sticks her head out, rears up, and the cop says "Put that thing away I'm driving you home!"
When the Snakes On A Plane movie came out we got a big kick out of it. In the early 80's we used to carry hot snakes as carry-on luggage all the time. Sometimes the screeners would stare at the vertebral columns on the monitor and ask, "What are those?" We'd tell them, "snakes" and they would shrug and pass us through.
Ben,
Thanks for the info. I just canceled my collecting safari to the Honduras. At my age, 50 yard's isn't going to cut it. Your the expert, so I am just asking here, what is the chances I could reach one of those nest's from Puerto Rico, and how long would my stick need to be? Funny story.
Wade Burck
Wade, 50 yards is beyond me these days too. I'm pretty sure I'd lose the race and surrender every shred of dignity to get back in the boat.
I saw this croc while it was on Green Island in the 70's. I remember then it's measurement was 17'9". There was also another croc there which measured 18'his name was Oscar also captured by C G James.
You've inspired me to post a blog entry on Gomek! I wish I would've had a video camera when I saw him. What a monster. Thanks for the memories!
http://zoo-tails.blogspot.com/2010/01/zoo-park-map-spotlight-st-augustine.html
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