ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — Sure, lots of people in St. Augustine
are picking up branches and leaves after Hurricane Matthew blew through
town. But only a few are doing it surrounded by alligators. That's what
Jim Darlington and Amie Mercado were doing on Sunday, raking up debris
in an alligator pit with the enormous reptiles just a couple of feet
away, including one who opened its mouth wide as Mercado approached.
That was part of the unusual cleanup at the St. Augustine Alligator
Farm, where trees and limbs fell into alligator lagoons and crocodile
pools, and enormous African storks were taken out of the bathrooms where
they rode out the hurricane. All in all, the zoo — one of Florida's
oldest ...
