An entire team of deputies was dispatched to a home in Florida after a 14-foot alligator slithered onto the premises.
The massive reptile, which weighed 600 pounds, required a skilled trapper to take him into custody. Seven deputies from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office were also drafted in to “evict” the creature.
In a video clip shared on Facebook by the sheriff’s office, the huge alligator can be seen resting in the middle of the road near the house. By the time the video was recorded, its mouth had already been tied shut by the authorities.
“Get on a leg, everybody get on a leg,” a man can be heard saying as the officers surrounded the swamp-dwelling creature.
After being hoisted into the air, the alligator furiously shook its tail, catching one of the deputies between the legs in the process.
“Up!” one of the men shouts, before ordering the group to shove the reptile onto a nearby truck.
One of the deputies can be heard shouting “get in there,” at the alligator before proclaiming that the entire skirmish was “nuts.”
“This massive guest had plans to stay for the holidays, but we had other ideas,” the SCSO wrote on social media. “With a wave goodbye, we say, ‘See ya later, Alligator!’”
The SCSO said the captured creature has been released at an alligator farm.
Alligators are the official state reptile for Florida and are a common sight in more rural parts of the Sunshine State. An estimated 1.3 million live across Florida’s 67 counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Although not usually aggressive towards humans, they can cause major disruptions by blocking roadways and forcing authorities to close local play areas if one of the creatures is stalking the nearby area.
Normally, alligators survive on a diet of fish, snakes, small mammals and birds. However, due to the wide-ranging nature of their diet, the slippery reptiles have been known to target household pets, including dogs and cats.
Due to the efforts of campaigners and lawmakers to limit the hunting of alligators and the destruction of their habitat, the reptile’s population has boomed.
Alligators now have a conservation status of “least concern”, after being removed from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered list in 1987.
