A fire early Monday destroyed a section of Gatorland, one of Florida's oldest tourist attractions, and killed as many as four pythons and crocodiles.
The blaze badly damaged the gift shop, entrance and ticket booth. The giant concrete gator head that serves as the main entrance was charred, its white teeth blackened with soot, its mouth full of debris.
The park's alligators were apparently safe in a lake, but the fire claimed two 8-foot pythons kept in a pen near the gift shop, said Michelle Harris, a park spokeswoman. And two 5-foot crocodiles held in the same pen were missing and feared dead.
The 110-acre park opened in 1949 and attracts about 400,000 tourists each year. It features people wrestling gators, a "jumparoo" show where the big reptiles leap for food, and up-close encounters where guests can hold snakes, scorpions, spiders and birds.
In all, Gatorland has a few thousand animals, said Tim Williams, the park's director of media production.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Harris said officials would try to reopen the park as soon as possible, but it was unclear how quick that may be.
"This park is like an old alligator. Gators fight, they get scarred up, they get beat up, they tear each other up, but they're resilient," Williams said. "This park's been here for 57 years. We're not going anywhere."
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