'Gator Crusader' shows off photos of his daughter with alligators in the living room, pool Photos of Gator Crusader's daughter, now 20, are staged & 15 years old, he says.

Jennifer Sangalang | Florida Today

Show Caption Hide Caption Gator Crusader photos showing alligator and girl are real yet staged Gator Crusader Michael Womer released 15-year-old photos of his daughter Bay Fishbough posing with gators in the living room & swimming pool

Michael Womer, the Gator Crusader, and his daughter, Bay Fishbough, live in Clearwater

Womer says he's been bit by an alligator 14-15 times

The Gator Crusader's alligator stunt videos have gone viral

Michael Womer, aka the Gator Crusader, wants to shock you.

Like that one time ...

• He fed an alligator a hot dog — from his mouth.

• He brushed an alligator's teeth.

All of this and more has been captured on film, shared on social media and earned the alligator trainer thousands of "what the heck?" comments.

These alligator stunts, broadcast on Youtube, by Womer are aimed at stirring a reaction. It works.

It's his job. Womer has made it his mission to share his love for gators. Sometimes for charity, too.

"If one of my videos made you smile, or if you were entertained or if you like alligators just even a small bit more than before you saw my videos, then THAT is why I do what I do," he said.

But how far will Womer go? Recently, Womer of Clearwater left his 20-year-old daughter, Bay Fishbough, in a pen full of gators by herself — and filmed it. I saw it on Womer's YouTube channel. As a parent, it made my stomach drop. But 30 seconds into the video, my nerves for Fishbough fizzled. The gators didn't seem to care that she was in the pen, playing on her phone. I was amused and a little confused.

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I reached out to Womer, who mentioned that was nothing, his daughter used to hang out with gators as a little girl.

Hang out with alligators? As a little girl?

I asked for photos.

What he sent blew my mind.

What the photos show

In one photo, taken more than 15 years ago, Fishbough is a toddler dressed in a Winnie the Pooh outfit. She's petting an alligator. Womer has a hand on her back and a hand on the gator. What you can't easily see is the clear tape around the gator's mouth.

This could end very badly... Watch what happens when this 'alligator whisperer' feeds an alligator a hot dog with his own mouth.

Another photo shows Womer holding a small gator with tape around its jaws and a roughly 3-year-old Fishbough petting its back.

The most shocking photos (to me) were taken when she was about 5 and a large gator looked like it was "roaming free" in the living room.

The photo haunted me and my editor.

"I was at a very secure position to grab my daughter and protect her, but you can't see that part in the photo," Womer explained. "It was staged."

His daugther's safety was always No. 1, Womer said.

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Video: Gator Crusader Michael Womer and Bay Fishbough talk about those shocking photos

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As an entertainer, he knows how to take a dramatic photo, Womer explained, and Fishbough was farther from the gator than the camera suggests.

The photos of Fishbough hanging out with the gators aren't limited to indoors. There's a picture of her about elementary school age swimming with a gator in a pool. Again, Womer explained, jaws were taped shut and the gator is not really that close to Fishbough.

Reaction to the photos

Womer admits people will jump to the worst conclusion possible if they see the photos. He doesn't mind.

It's kind of who he is, part of his act.

That said, he waited until his daughter was an adult to release the photos. He's well aware of the heat Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin got for photos of his daughter, Bindi Irwin, with gators.

"In this day and age, you don't want to mess with people thinking you're not safe with your kids," he said. "Nothing I ever do with my daughter isn't safe.

"I still don't let her get nearly as close to the gators. She's 20, and I won't let her get close enough to them," he added. "She's like, 'Dad, I've been around them my whole life.'"

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"I'm a very, very good storyteller, and I understand theatrics. I know how to take pictures that look theatrical and shocking and make people think, 'what the heck is going on?'"

Fishbough also doesn't mind the photos. She wants people to understand, this is normal life for them.

Man feeds alligators 15-pound turkeys -- and they love it Who knew? Alligators love turkey, too! In honor of Thanksgiving, the "Gator Crusader," a Florida alligator trainer, feeds frozen turkeys to alligators. Bonus? He brushes their teeth, too. Video courtesy of Michael Womer.

"I've never known him doing anything else," Fishbough said of her dad. "When I was little ... we had cats, but we also had alligators."

Womer now trains about 30 gators at an animal sanctuary in the Clearwater area.

Growing up around the creatures and having the Gator Crusader as a parent taught Fishbough to have a healthy respect for the critters.

Healthy respect

An estimated 1.25 million alligators live in Florida, but there have only been five reported alligator-related fatalities in the Sunshine State since 2010. The most recent alligator attack happened in June, when a Davie woman was killed by a gator while walking her dog.

Womer has been bitten at least 14 or 15 times, he estimated. Although, it's been a while. The last time a gator chomped on him was back in the 1990s.

He's done the whole stick-your-head-in-the-gator's-mouth thing, but that showcases the bravery of the person who does it, not the gator, he said.

"We used to do gator wrestling, jump on their back, pry their mouth open. I never really liked the fact that we were forcing them to do what they didn't want to do," said Womer. That's when he got bit.

How does it feel to get bit by an alligator?

"Hurt, hurt, hurts worse. Imagine the worst pain and even worse" than that, said Womer. "The power of their jaws is a lot like having your hand slammed in a car door (with sharp teeth and really powerful jaws)."

What's more, he explained, "when you get bit by a gator, you have to tell yourself not to

move. Your natural body reaction is to jerk away from the pain. So you have to prepare yourself mentally, 'if you get bit, don't jerk your arm. If you get bit, don't jerk your arm.'"

He said that since he made the switch from alligator wrestling to alligator training, he has not been bit: "Since I've done the training, I've done ... much more dangerous things, like feeding them hot dogs from my mouth and sending a text from inside their mouth.

"Honestly, I've never been bit while doing the weird sensational things. It was only during the gator wrestling and restraining," he said.

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Fishbough said she knows enough about gators to sense danger so being in the pen wasn't scary. Apparently, she inherited that fearlessness from her father.

"When I was little, he would find me by the gator pen singing them good night. If they had gotten close, I instantly would've gotten up," Fishbough said.

These days, Womer trains alligators, hosts videos featuring gators and does a daily livestream, hoping to grow his online fan base. Fishbough handles the social media, and it's due, in part, to her technological savvy the Gator Crusader has an online audience.

But she complained, in that typical way a young person complains about their parents, that he won't let her do more than that: "Even though I'm not doing a lot, I'm slowly getting to be a part of it rather than sitting on the side saying, 'That's my dad.'"

How he became Gator Crusader

When he was a child, Womer's mother took him to an alligator show in Florida. He was hooked. When asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, Womer answered: be an alligator trainer. "Even for Florida," he said, "that's a very odd answer."

His dream of working with the reptile came true. He worked at Gatorland as an alligator wrestler. The "showman" in him found joy in entertaining crowds with "death-defying" stunts.

He later left Gatorland and became the Gator Crusader. He traveled around the world to showcase the animal and has been doing so for 26 years.

"I don't want little kids to think gators aren't that bad. They are. But ... I try to show

that they're a lot smarter than people realize," he said.

"A lot of what I do is my way of showing people you can train alligators," he added. "I would never say they could be tamed to the point where I could lay in bed with them and cuddle like a kitty cat. These are gators I work with, I built a bond and a relationship with."

Alligators celebrate Valentine's Day -- with a bite Gator Crusader didn't forget about his gators for Valentine's Day. Watch him interact, pet alligators -- and give them a special treat, too. Footage courtesy of Michael Womer. Video posted by Jennifer Sangalang, FLORIDA TODAY.

Ironically, Womer hopes the photos of Fishbough will make people think about alligators in a positive manner.

He admits his approach is not for everyone.

Keith Winsten, executive director of Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, hadn't heard of him and was uneasy about the photos when FLORIDA TODAY showed him.

"Obviously, the key to gators and people successfully living together in Florida is a respect and understanding of the animals," he said. "Gators get in trouble when we teach them to do bad things.

"Interacting with wild gators in any way ... is a bad thing," said Winsten. "Here's my concern: People might look at these photos and think gators are good pets, and they're not."

Winsten did say because the photos show the alligator inside, "it's clear to people that this is a gator that has been raised by people and trained by people. It's clear it's not a wild gator."

The same for the gators at Brevard Zoo. Like Womer and Fishbough, Winsten said zoo staff go into the gator pen — "usually with a stick in our hand because they're not, by nature, terribly aggressive animals," but that doesn't mean they're not dangerous, he added.

"Sending these photos absolutely sends the wrong message to people," said Winsten.

Womer said he hopes his alligator videos will lead people to do more research about gators and increase conservation. His love for the animal as a young boy never stopped, and he calls it his mission to spread that love.

"Once you watch my video, I want you to love alligators a little bit more," he said. "If you care about gators, you will do more to protect them."

At the time of this interview, his Gator Crusader YouTube channel had 60 videos and 330 subscribers. He knows there is room to grow.

It's alligator mating season in Florida. Florida's alligators are more active and territorial during mating season. GINNY BEAGAN/FLORIDA TODAY

Some of his videos, particularly the one of him feeding a gator a hot dog from his mouth, have gone viral and were shared by USA TODAY, Fox News and the Weather Channel, to name a few. And they led to a guest appearance on the "Steve Harvey Show" in 2017 to brush a gator's teeth.

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How gators help

Fishbough, like her dad, feels a bond with gators and shrugs off criticism. For her, the gators serve a different — and lifesaving — purpose.

"I use animals to help (with anxiety and depression). I dye my hair blue, I get tattoos, but working with alligators is a way to help me deal with my anxiety and stress," she said.

According to Womer, his daughter radiates in the alligator pen, and he believes working with the gators helps give her an identity.

Said Fishbough: "Even when you have problems and you feel like you're not good at anything, you might be good at (hanging with) alligators."

10 alligator facts worth learning Alligators are fascinating creatures. Here are 10 facts that you might not have known about the large reptiles.

Watching the Gator Crusader videos, I admit I've become a fan — I hold my breath and can't believe some of these death-defying stunts. Womer's hugely entertaining to watch, too.

You won't find me swimming with gators or hanging out with them in my living room, but I understand and respect what the creatures mean to Womer and Fishbough.

Fishbough envisions becoming more involved in "the family business," but probably will never be as sensationalist as her dad.

Womer, though, makes no apologies. And, of course, the crazier the stunt, the more people see it.

"I feel like if I'm a good enough entertainer, I don't need to ask for money, which is another reason why I do the sensational thing. If I just sat in front of the screen to tell you about an alligator's third eyelid," that would be boring, he said.

"I know all the scientific stuff about gators, and I could give you a three-hour dissertation, but that's no fun."

Sangalang is a digital producer at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Sangalang at 321-242-3630

or jsangalang@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @byjensangalang

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