DOVER — While scrubbing the enclosure of a Tomistoma crocodile one morning, Bruce Shwedick knew he was a bit too close to the 8-foot reptile that can grow up to 17 feet. But the crocodile had never once snapped at the reptile specialist. Shwedick continued cleaning the enclosure.
“The next thing I knew, my hand was in his mouth,” Shwedick says. “He snapped twice and then just held my hand in his mouth.”
The 100-pound Tomistoma remained still, gears churning in its head.
“He was deciding if he was going to eat my hand or spit it out,” Shwedick says. “Even crocs can be finicky.”
Shwedick relaxed his hand inside the beast’s mouth. If he tried to pull it away, the crocodile would no doubt clench down its 77 slender teeth on his hand and begin a full body roll which could end in death or dismemberment for Shwedick.
Luckily for Shwedick, his hand wasn’t exactly on the approved food list by the Tomistoma’s standards. Slowly, the crocodile opened his jaws, until Shwedick could slide his hand out.
Shwedick was left with a severed tendon on the middle finger of his left hand. He had to undergo surgery and wear a cast for weeks. But the damage could have been much worse.
However, that hasn’t stop Shwedick’s passion for working with crocodiles. Although the incident was the bite that has caused the most damage, Shwedick has been bit about a dozen other times by crocodiles and four times by venomous snakes.
Shwedick is part of a crocodile specialist group, the Crocodilian Conservation Center of Florida and the Tomistoma Task Force. He owns a facility in Dover, where he keeps crocodiles he has raised and crocodiles from zoos around the country.
Shwedick is working on opening another larger facility in Frostproof, which he hopes to have operational by June 2014. The property is 16 acres; five will be compound areas and the rest a buffer zone.
LIFELONG LOVE
So, how did a Maryland native end up owning two facilities full of crocs in central Florida?
Shwedick got his start working with reptiles when he was just 12 years old.
“I started out as just a kid staring at the crocs through the glass windows in the National Zoo’s reptile house alongside my older brother,” Shwedick says. “Eventually, they let me come inside. They helped me to receive training, to learn and to become a crocodile specialist and a zoo professional. For that, I am eternally grateful, and it is a debt that I am working hard to repay.”
It was his older brother who first sparked the duo’s interest in these scaly creatures. His brother was allowed to keep reptiles in his teacher’s class.
In the early 1970s, he began to travel to summer camps and do presentations. Shwedick started to tag along as an assistant. By 1975, other state programs were requesting the brothers’ presentations. So, Shwedick split off from his brother to take over his own educational programs for parks and schools.
“Both my parents went through a lot of unnecessary stress,” Shwedick says, laughing. “But, they let us do what we loved.”
WORLD TRAVELER
Shwedick’s programs soon earned him international attention. In 1978, he received an invitation from the National Zoo to go to Africa for a meeting of crocodile biologists. He was the only person from outside of Southern Africa to attend. There, he trained as a crocodile specialist and was part of a discovery that found that egg collection doesn’t cause extinction as long as the nesting grounds are protected.
Venturing to Africa again in 1982, he ended up in Victoria Falls, where biologists from all over the world met to discuss crocodiles. He met Wolfgang Waitkuwait, who invited him to visit the Ivory Coast. Together, they worked at the National Zoo, moving more than 50 crocodiles. During one move, Shwedick sustained a bite. The crocodile had latched onto his finger.
“Luckily, I had studied a little French before I went, because I had to explain to the other workers in French how to get my finger out,” Shwedick says.
In total, Shwedick has been to Africa five times to seven different countries, including St. Lucia, Liberia and Kenya. His favorite location is a remote lake in the desert of Kenya, named Lake Turkana.
“Africa has always been closest to my heart,” Shwedick said. “If I hadn’t ended up raising so many crocs in the United States, I would have gone to Africa.”
HOME SWEET HOME
In the U.S., Shwedick has managed to raise 60 crocodiles. He is currently taking care of 14 captive-born crocodiles at his Dover facility and a 44-year-old West African Dwarf Crocodile name Mzima, which is Kiswahili for “Alive.” Shwedick also has hatched eggs eight times.
Since 1991, he’s been loaning crocodiles he has raised to the Portland Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Maryland Zoo and Zoo Miami. He also receives crocodiles from zoos.
“Most zoos have a display area and then an extra holding space for other crocodiles,” Shwedick says. “When those area get full, they send the crocodiles to me.”
Shwedick also travels from zoo to zoo to train aquarists, zookeepers and handlers about crocodiles, their care, husbandry and handling. One zoo employee once told him, “If you want to hang with us, you can’t be the barefoot bushman anymore.”
“I have to do things safely when I train, and it’s boring,” Shwedick says, laughing. “I have to handle the reptiles in a way zookeepers and aquarists could handle safely. I have to create a proper protocol.”
In 1993, Shwedick moved to Plant City to work at Gator Jungle, which is now Dinosaur World. When Gator Jungle closed, he worked as a reptile curator at the Florida Cypress Gardens from 1996 to 2001. While at Cypress Gardens, Shwedick bought a nearly 14-foot alligator that trappers caught in Lake Talquin with a harpoon. The trappers had 48 hours to find someone to take the gator, or else, by law, it had to be destroyed. Shwedick displayed it at Cypress Gardens, naming it Mighty Mike.
Since then, Mighty Mike has gained national attention and has been displayed at a variety of zoos during all seasons. Mighty Mike, whose head measures 23 inches, travels in a 430-pound box around the country.
“He’s become a very popular ambassador for his species,” Shwedick says.
At Cypress Gardens, Shwedick also hatched Tomistoma eggs. As part of the Tomistoma Task Force, Shwedick works to protect the slender snouted species which is found in Borneo, Sumatra and Malaysia. They are under threat because of the deforestation by palm oil companies.
“We’re interested in crocodilians not for the value of their skin, but because we find them fascinating,” Shwedick says about the crocodilian groups.
So what’s up next for this crocodilian master?
“I have yet to be invited to participate in the Strawberry Festival,” Shwedick says. “I feel that I could make a contribution through the educational programs I do. I would love that.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
Crocodilian Conservation Center of Florida
In 2010, Bruce Shwedick, along with Curt Harbsmeier, Ralf Sommerlad and Colin Stevenson, founded the Crocodilian Conservation Center of Florida. They hope to raise awareness about crocodilian conservation. Currently, they are building a crocodilian holding facility in Frostproof for Chinese alligators, Cuban crocodiles, Tomistoma, Orinoco crocodiles, Siamese crocodiles and West African crocodiles.
To donate, call (813) 486-0256 or mail donations to P.O. Box 3176, Plant City, FL 33563.