Meet the Florida Soccer Mom Who Wrestles Gators, Even While Pregnant

Soccer mom Martha Rivera is a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie.

ByABC News
October 6, 2014, 5:02 PM

— -- It seems like there is nothing that will stop Florida mom Martha Rivera from wrestling alligators, not even pregnancy.

"I've done shows fully pregnant," Rivera told ABC's Gloria Riviera in an interview for "Nightline." "It's no different than somebody who just happens to have a big belly."

Pregnant Women Take on Extreme Sports

Watch Gator Whisperers Wrangle Alligators

Rivera and her husband Jeffrey, who have one 8-year-old son, have been volunteering their time at the Everglades Outpost Wildlife Rescue for the past two years. In fact, Rivera is currently seven months pregnant with the couple's second child and said she still felt "completely safe" climbing on the back of an alligator.

"I know my limits. I know which alligators I can work with and which alligators I cannot work with. I know the size, the tricks I can do, the tricks I can't do," she said. "I would not ... do something I thought I could do without really thinking it through, because I would danger not just myself but the animal as well."

A self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, Rivera said she can't get enough of being close to alligators. She gets in the water with them, feeds them raw meat, climbs on their backs and wrestles them. As a volunteer, Rivera doesn't get paid for the shows she performs but she does get to keep tips.

"There's nothing like getting on an animal with the alligator close and front and personal," she said.

The Everglades Outpost Wildlife Rescue in Homestead, Florida, run by conservationist Bob Freer and his wife Barbara, works to rehabilitate injured animals and release them back into the wild. The sanctuary is home not just to alligators, but also wolves, tigers, zebras and other wildlife. The sanctuary hosts educational shows, like Rivera's and charges visitors an entry fee.

"We're making a difference and the fact that people are going to walk away and know that we need these animals in the wild, and we need to protect alligators," Rivera said.

And this minivan-driving mom said she will go to her son's soccer game and perform an alligator show all in the same day.

"These alligators are wild but they know that we use them so they know what's coming," she said. "We rotate them also so we do not stress them out. After the shows we make sure they're not stressed-every so often we'll take some out of this pit, put them in the resting pit."

Rivera gave her final alligator show two weeks ago before going on maternity leave.

"That is everybody's always question, as far as whether it is safe or not," she said. "It is safe if you know what you're doing and you know the techniques that you need to use… It's no less dangerous than getting into a car and driving."