For the past two decades, the alligator population in Baldwin County has been steadily growing. Eighteen miles north of Gulf Shores, Wes Moore’s 160-acre Summerdale property – home to Alligator Alley – now boasts more than 700 primitive reptile residents whose distant ancestors once roamed the planet with dinosaurs. While many were born into captivity at the site, others were “nuisance animals” relocated from around the Southeast.
“Alligators have a small brain and a large stomach, and that gets them into trouble,” says Moore, whose family has lived in Baldwin County for more than 150 years. “They have been known to borrow household pets or farm animals and not return them.”
Although rare, news of human attacks do occasionally spill onto media headlines, but Moore isn’t fond of the term “maneater.”
“Can they eat you?” he rhetorically asks. “Yes. But they prefer to live in isolated creeks and swamps. When those areas become waterfront property for humans, alligators may be labeled a nuisance and removed.”
An alligator eyes a visitor from the bank. The gators become active once the temperature gets above 60 degrees. (Nick Thomas / Alabama Living)
For the animals retired to Moore’s alligator sanctuary, the food, water and space are plentiful. While fights can still erupt between males during mating season, Moore says the higher ratio of females to males means less potential for injury than in the wild. Likewise, reduced competition for food leads to less conflict.
“Living here may extend their life expectancy by 50 percent, maybe up to 70 years,” Moore says. “Some will probably outlive me, although I hope they have nothing directly to do with that.”
While caring for hundreds of alligators is clearly a risky endeavor, Moore says he has avoided any contact with the animals’ crushing jaws since establishing Alligator Alley in 2004. But the appeal of danger is partly what drives thousands of visitors to flock to the sanctuary each year, especially eager to witness one of the three alligator feedings scheduled each day during the tourist season.
Restricted to a 60-acre area of the property with plenty of food on hand, it’s no wonder no alligator has broken out into the surrounding community. “Why would they leave?” Moore asks with a smile. “More than likely they would prefer to break in.”
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Owner Wes Moore feeds chicken to one of the big gators. (Nick Thomas / Alabama Living)
Beginning around March, when alligators become active, some 1,000 feral pig carcasses are fed to the animals annually, many tossed into the property’s gator-infested 23-acre pond throughout the warmer months. But it’s Moore’s appearance on a golf cart in the reptiles’ territory behind the spectator chain-link fence that’s a highlight for visitors. Alighting with a cooler or two stacked with gator goodies (raw chicken pieces) and sporting a wide-brimmed straw hat, shorts and heavy boots, he inches his way cautiously between the massive 10- to 12-foot-long beasts that lumber onto the bank from the murky pond.
He calls them all by name – Shredder, Elvis, Chili Dog, Big Easy and J.W. – “which I named after a friend of mine, since they both have only four teeth left.” He even offers some a friendly pat on the snout after a chicken thigh disappears through gaping jaws, into their voluminous 55-gallon-sized stomachs.
While visitors are permitted to hold smaller alligators or walk through tortoise and snake displays, it’s the massive alligators that draw the most attention. An 1,800-foot elevated boardwalk guides visitors through the back swamp where dozens of scaly beasts chill out in the green duckweed-covered water, often eyed cautiously by their blue heron neighbors wading through the shallows.
That area is also home to 13-foot Captain Crunch, somewhere in the upper region of 40 years old. Captured by a nuisance alligator trapper near Tallahassee, Crunch holds the world record for bite force at just under 3,000 pounds. Moore can only offer an analogy of what the unlucky recipient might experience if seized by the animal’s monstrous jaws.
“If I dropped a car on you from a height of 2 feet, that’s the bone-crushing force these alligators could generate,” he says.
. (Nick Thomas / Alabama News Center)
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A visitor holds a young alligator (the jaws are always secured). (Nick Thomas / Alabama Living)
When the cool weather arrives in October, the daily feeding ritual continues for a while but with smaller portions, since the animals’ metabolism slows as they transition into brumation, a period of inactivity over winter when they avoid food for months.
Alligator Alley closes after Thanksgiving, reopening for the Christmas-to-New-Year week, then remains closed until Feb. 1. But late-winter visitors may still glimpse the residents. “If the temperature is above 60 degrees, the alligators will be out for viewing, just no real activity,” Moore says.
Originally purchased by his grandfather in 1939 for farming, the property included a cypress swamp (later expanded) that was home to an alligator called Old Joe. Young Wes was permitted to feed the fascinating creature and the thrill never left, inspiring him to eventually establish an area to protect the animals and educate the public about their role in nature.
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Some whimsical signs also serve as warnings to visitors at Alligator Alley. (Nick Thomas / Alabama Living)
While Moore can appreciate an individual alligator’s nuisance factor, he says most do more good than harm.
“Although they do eat fish, they really don’t reduce the gamefish population since they prefer turtles, snakes, otters and beavers in the wild – animals you may not want in your pond anyway,” he says. “So an alligator can help manage your wetland better than you can.”
Alligator Alley is at 19950 Highway 71 in Summerdale. Phone 866-994-2867 or visit gatoralleyfarm.com for more information.
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery and has written features, columns and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers. His website is getnickt.org.
This story originally appeared in Alabama Living magazine.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.
One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.
Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.
Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.
After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.
Follow us at @RollTideWire on X and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama Crimson Tide news, notes and opinions.
NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
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