Expectant parents face backlash after using huge alligator for gender reveal party

Most expectant parents prefer to use a pretty cake or balloons to reveal the gender of their unborn child – but not Mike Kliebert, who enlisted the help of a huge alligator.

Mike and his pregnant partner, Rebecca Miller, threw a gender reveal party like you’ve probably never seen before, after concluding that finding out the sex of their third baby needed a little extra twist.

So with the help of an alligator, and a watermelon, the couple – from Louisiana, in the US – gathered their friends and family round for the hair-raising reveal.

In a video shared by grandma Melody Kleibert on Facebook, Mike – professionally known as 'T-Mike, the Gator King' – places a hollowed-out watermelon into the alligator's mouth.

When the reptile bites down on the fruit, blueberry jelly sprays out, indicating the couple is expecting a boy.

While Mike is a professional 'gator wrangler' and his family owns a turtle and alligator farm, many people were shocked and angry after watching the video.

'Beyond stupid', one woman wrote. 'Let's just irritate the poor alligator so he snaps and shove a big thing in his mouth. One of the lamest reveals I've seen yet'.

https://www.facebook.com/melody.kliebert/videos/vb.1799867200/10208621734019683/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

Another added: 'Feel sorry for the alligator. Poor thing doesn't know what's going on. What a stupid act.'

While a third said: 'Poor alligator, animal abuse.'

And a fourth added: 'Am I the only one who finds this disturbing? Poor alligator he's not a prop.'

But speaking to Today, Mike - who shares a son and a daughter with Rebecca - said: 'Being that alligators are part of our family, we wanted to include them in our gender reveal.'

And clearing up concerns that the reptile, a 60-year-old gator hatched by Mike's grandfather back in 1957 and affectionately named Sally, was charging towards Mike's son at the end of the video, he said: 'People seem to think the gator was going toward my son when he was on the ground.

'But that's not the case. I understand the animal, and I understand what they're capable of and I respect them.'