Drone Video Shows Florida Cops Expertly Lasso and Wrestle 6-Foot Alligator: ‘Not Our First Call Like This’
Screenshot via Lake County Sheriff’s Office on YouTube.
Deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) had a wild encounter wrangling a 6-foot alligator in a local resident’s yard, and luckily for the internet, it was captured on drone and body cam video.
According to a report by Orlando Weekly, the deputies were responding to a call from a woman in Clermont (about 20 miles west of Orlando) who said there was a large alligator on her front porch.
When the cops arrived on scene, the alligator darted around to the side of the house, headbutted a fence gate, and tried to flee to the backyard. The deputies pursued the wily reptile and one managed to lasso the gator. After the alligator attempted to free itself using a “death roll” maneuver, the cop grabbed it by the tail and neck, wrestled it on the ground, sat on it, and held the jaws shut so another deputy could wrap tape around the jaws.
Alligators and related species like crocodiles have tremendous strength to snap their jaws shut and hold on to prey, but are much weaker when trying to open their jaws, so alligator wranglers are often seen subduing the animal with duct tape or electrical tape.
The LCSO posted video clips of the gator capture from body cam and drone video, along with a musical soundtrack, and shared it on their social media accounts.
“Dispatch received a call from a woman stating that there was an alligator on her front porch area,” the caption read. “Deputies responded to capture and safely relocate the surprise visitor. Not our first call like this… but it’s always a Florida classic!”
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there are about 1.3 million alligators in the state, present in all 67 counties. Florida runs a “State Nuisance Alligator Program” residents can call to have a troublesome gator removed “if it’s at least 4 feet in length and believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property.”
“Alligators less than 4 feet in length are not large enough to be dangerous to people or pets, unless handled,” the FWC website warns. “You should never handle an alligator, even a small one, because alligator bites can result in serious infection and it’s illegal.”
Watch the video above, via Lake County Sheriff’s Office on YouTube.
