THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 19, 1995 TAG: 9506190040
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Beneath a sun-bleached sign advertising ``Kachunga and the Alligator Show,'' Gil Castillo a k a Kachunga, teased a full-grown American alligator with a short stick Sunday afternoon while his sidekick cautioned spectators to stand back.
The reptile replied by hissing and whipping its massive tail in Castillo's direction. Castillo, protected only by foam elbow and knee pads, scurried out of the way.
This two-man, two-alligator spectacle had all the trappings of a carnival sideshow - and was just as mesmerizing. It was one of the most popular attractions at the three-day Bayou Bugaloo at Town Point Park.
``You notice I carry a gun,'' bellowed alligator emcee Mike Chillura, patting his holstered sidearm. ``I have a pistol with me in case the alligator should get hold of Kachunga and refuse to let go.''
The crowd gasped.
``Then I'd have to shoot Kachunga,'' Chillura deadpanned. ``Alligators are expensive. Big, stupid guys are a dime a dozen.''
Closer inspection of Chillura's weapon revealed it to be a BB gun - a weapon that couldn't dent the armor of one of these ancient reptiles and wouldn't do much damage to a brawny guy like Castillo, either.
``It's a prop,'' confessed Chillura with a shrug after the crowd had disbursed.
Kachunga's alligator show is one of three Tampa-based reptile attractions that are traveling through the East and Midwest this summer. Castillo and Chillura came to town towing a 9-foot, 300 pound alligator and a 2-year-old baby alligator in their trailer.
They boast that their show combines gator thrills with gator facts.
``It's educational, we even take this to schools,'' Castillo declared.
Spectators watched Kachunga swipe his hand into the gnarly mouth of the big gator: A mouth containing 80 teeth - all pointy, no molars - which can exert 2,000 pounds of ``jaw pressure.''
After Castillo wrestled the gator into submission he carried the cold-blooded creature to the stage like an oversized purse. He then straddled the animal, clamped its jaws shut and pointed out its body parts to the crowd.
When he came to the alligator's eyes, which are located conveniently on the top of its head, Castillo demonstrated how the gator is able to protect its peepers by retracting them into its head. Castillo alternately poked each eye a few times without interruption from any animal rights activist who might have been lurking in the crowd.
At the end of the show, in classic carnival style, the alligator wrestlers asked for a volunteer from the audience. David Perrin, a 9-year-old Norfolk boy, bounded into the enclosure.
He touched the large gator, and was playing the straight man for the two alligator guys before a shrill voice could be heard in the crowd.
``David, David, oh my Lord, David,'' gasped his mother, Sabrina Belin, when she spotted her son in the gator pit. ``What in the world are you doing?''
When Belin recovered from the shock of seeing her son petting a dangerous snaggle-toothed reptile, she said David was always doing things like this.
``I let him out of my sight for one minute and this is what happens.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Gil Castillo a k a Kachunga entertained spectators at the three-day
Bayou Bugaloo at Town Point Park in Norfolk by wrestling a 9-foot,
300-pound American alligator.
by CNB