FOLKSTON, Ga. - A.I. "Len" Robbins' first venture posting a video on his newspaper's website has exceeded all expectations.

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Nearly 200,000 viewers worldwide have visited the Clinch County News website since Robbins first posted a startling video on July 11 showing dozens of alligators in an apparent feeding frenzy.

The alligators were churning the waters near the boat ramp at Stephen C. Foster State Park near Fargo on the west side of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Several days after upgrading the paper's website to show videos, Robbins said the international attention began.

"It took four or five days, and boom!" he said. "I'm still getting eight YouTube comments an hour, at least."

Robbins said a newspaper from Paris, France, called Tuesday for permission to post the video.

Initially, Robbins said he didn't watch the video, which was sent by a Facebook friend. But after his wife watched it, she insisted he take a minute to check it out himself.

"To see this many alligators is startling," he said. "They [normally] don't work in conjunction with each other."

Sarah Aicher,  a wildlife biologist at the refuge, said she was shown the video by a fellow ranger who told her she'd probably be questioned about it by media. Sure enough, a few days later her office starting getting calls for interviews.

Aicher said she has heard of alligators participating in what she described as cooperative feeding but had never seen the behavior before she watched the video.

"I wish I would have seen them feeding," she said.

Aicher said low water levels likely led to the alligators gathering to feed on fish trapped in pools of water.

She questioned the wisdom of the fishermen who took the video as their boat was bumped and splashed by feeding alligators.

"They probably felt they had the protection of the boat," she said. "It probably wasn't that wise."

Ray Cason, the Clinch County man who took the video, could not be reached Wednesday.

Robbins said Cason was offered money for the video by national media but refused the offers. Instead, he gave the video to Robbins to help promote Fargo and the Okefenokee swamp.

Travis Griffin, manager of the state park, said the video's popularity hasn't led to more visitors, other than some media requests for interviews, but that could change.

"It's just hitting the national media now," he said.

Griffin said park staff have been instructed to be on the lookout for large gatherings of alligators, but he doesn't expect it to happen again anytime soon.

"It's a very rare occurrence," he said. "It might happen again. We'll keep watching for it."

If the alligators gather again, Griffin said he has instructed his staff not to rent out boats or canoes until the animals stop feeding and leave the area. But he insisted it's safe to visit the state park and boat or canoe in surrounding waters.

Griffin said he would never risk driving a boat through a narrow canal with more than 100 alligators unless his duties forced him to do so.

"If something would have happened like a rescue, I would have had to do my job," he said. "Otherwise, I would have waited until they left."

As for advertisers, Robbins said they shouldn't expect nearly 200,000 hits when he posts his next video. That one shows the media frenzy from his posting of the alligator video.

"It's good for advertisers," he said. "But, they'll probably be disappointed when I put on a video and it only gets 3,000 hits."

gordon.jackson@jacksonville.com, (912) 729-3672