A GLAM grad has locked lips with a surprising partner in a shocking photoshoot to celebrate completing her degree.
The natural sciences major was pictured planting a kiss on the snout of an enormous 14ft alligator named Big Al.
Kat Daley posed with Big Al – a 14ft alligator – for her graduation photo shoot Credit: Laura Oglesbee Photography
Daley said she wasn’t scared at all throughout the photoshoot Credit: Laura Oglesbee Photography
Kat Daley, 22, a student from McNeese State University, tempted fate with Big Al, putting her face just inches away from his wide-open jaws.
Despite the terrifying pictures, Daley revealed she wasn’t afraid during the shoot at all, saying it wasn’t her first time being up close and personal with an alligator.
“I really wanted to highlight what I do with these animals every day and what they mean to me,” Daley told the New York Post.
“I feel like reptiles are demonized in the media a lot more than they need to be, alligators specifically.
Daley has been working with animals since she was seven years old Credit: Laura Oglesbee Photography
The graduate helps to run Gator Country in Texas Credit: Laura Oglesbee Photography
“They’re not as aggressive as people like to think. When people don’t interfere with those wild animals, they aren’t gonna interfere with us,” she added.
Helping to run Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, alongside her fiance Eddie, the fearless grad has always loved animals.
Her journey in the animal kingdom began when she started working at a wildlife rehab at just seven years old.
Including everything a normal graduation shoot would have, Daley took it to the next level wading out into the knee-deep water with the gigantic apex predator.
Big Al is one of two gators that have been trained to take pictures Credit: Laura Oglesbee Photography
Daley wanted to highlight the work she does with animals through her grad photoshoot Credit: Laura Oglesbee Photography
Wearing a navy blue dress, grad cap and gown, she was even seen resting her mortarboard on Big Al’s nose, with the tassel dangling into the beast’s mouth.
Photographer Laura Oglesbee, 45, said Daley knew the animal’s temperament well.
“The alligators are trained, they only do it with Big Al and Big Tex, who have been trained for a long time. It’s not just some random alligator,” she revealed.
Oglesbee is also no stranger to the petrifying creatures; her husband used to wrestle gators at the park, so she had no hesitation getting into the water with Big Al.
But she did draw the line at a different kind of reptile.
Oglesbee shot Daley posing with a “very poisonous” timber rattlesnake using a wide lens camera.
“They wouldn’t let me get too close for that one,” she said.
“But [Daley] just held that snake like it was nothing.”
Gator Country is located on 15 acres around 80 miles east of Houston.
An estimated 450 alligators call the park home and it takes in around 250 more per year.
The park is the top nuisance alligator trapper in Texas, according to Daley.
“We bring them here, take care of them, feed them, pretty much let them live out their best lives they can in captivity because they don’t have a chance in the wild,” she said.
“I love the conservation aspect of it, where we get to save these animals that would otherwise be destroyed.
“But I also love the education aspect, getting people to see and interact with these animals and see they’re not so scary.”
Daley graduated with a general studies degree and a natural sciences concentration.
She completed her education while working full time at the park, and she said she’s in no hurry to move on.
“Honestly I kind of already have my dream job, so I think I’m just gonna stay right here and see where it takes me,” she said.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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