Trappers were called to capture an 11-foot alligator in Homestead after a man encountered the massive reptile while exercising in the early morning hours.
Bodycam video provided by Pesky Critters Wildlife Control shows the enormous reptile lunging and growling at the trappers who were called out to the Homestead Sports Complex early Thursday morning.
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The team was quickly dispatched and after a battle caught on camera, trappers captured the gator at around 3:30 a.m.
The incident comes just days after a man lost his arm to a similar-sized alligator in Port Charlotte.
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“Alligators are native to Florida so anywhere that you have freshwater, you have a high likelihood of encountering an alligator so whether that’s a lake, a canal, a pond, a river,” says George Reynaud, an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. “And the most important thing is to learn how to coexist with an alligator. So just because I see an alligator doesn’t mean that it poses a threat, or it has to be removed.”
Much of the agency's job is to get that message out, but they say that sometimes, an alligator can pose a risk if it has lost its natural fear of humans because it was fed illegally.
“In that case, the best thing to do is call FWC, Florida Fish and Wildlife, or we have a program called SNAP which stands for Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program, and that program is designed and dedicated to removing alligators that have become a nuisance or have lost that fear of a person and they get removed permanently from that area,” Reynaud said.
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In those cases, you can call 866-392-4286 and they will send a team to remove the nuisance alligator permanently.
The FWC says that most bites can be prevented by staying away from places where alligators may be living.
“If you are walking your pet make sure it’s on a leash and that you don’t bring it near the shoreline or let your pet swim in the water because they do resemble the natural prey of an alligator and that’s going to attract the alligator to the pet,” Reynaud said.
