Several Florida deputies managed to wrangle and “evict” a 14-foot alligator in a massive effort caught on video.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office posted a video of the end of the catch on Tuesday.
“How many deputies does it take to evict a 14-foot gator? Apparently, 7 brave deputies and 1 skilled trapper!” the Facebook post reads.
The footage shows the gator, with its mouth already taped shut, in the middle of a roadway at nighttime.
“Get on a leg, everybody get on a leg,” a man who appears to be the trapper says as he holds the gator’s head still.
The deputies climb onto the legs and the rest of the gator’s body. The massive reptile hisses and whips its tail as the deputies lift the animal, which weighed approximately 600 pounds, and then hoist it up toward the bed of a truck.
“Up!” the trapper says. “And shove!”
“Get in there!” one of the deputies says as they push it into the truck. Another says, “That is nuts.”
American alligators are native to Florida, and these opportunistic feeders prefer fresh water lakes and slow-moving rivers and their associated wetlands, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
This specimen was caught and released at an alligator farm, the sheriff’s office said.
“This massive guest had plans to stay for the holidays, but we had other ideas,” the department wrote. “With a wave goodbye, we say, ‘See ya later, Alligator!'”
