When many people think of wildlife experts in Central Florida, they think of Savannah Boan.

She is the Park Director and Crocodilian Enrichment Coordinator at Gatorland.

But, if you ask her, what brought her to Central Florida was the allure of Disney World.

“(I) ran away to Florida when I was 16 years old because I wanted to be Cinderella,” she said. “Of course, Disney doesn’t hire 16-year-old runaways and I was way too tall to be Cinderella.”

So she started applying to work at Gatorland. The gator pro said it took seven years to get a gig at the wildlife park and once she came on board she never looked back.

“I’m so honored every day that I get to come to work with these amazing dinosaurs,” she said.

Boan now focuses her time caring for alligators and crocodiles, working to protect their habitats and educating the community about the reptiles.

She recently took Florida’s Fourth Estate hosts Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden around the wildlife park to talk about gator mating season.

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