Caught on camera: How a police officer successfully wrangled a six-foot alligator in Florida
Here's an example of someone going above and beyond the call of duty. Florida police officer Alfredo Vargas got a call on July 10 about a six-foot alligator that was discovered on someone's front porch. Footage of him wrestling the reptile into submission was captured on his body camera and posted on Facebook by the Boynton Beach Police Department on Wednesday. The video, a little over three minutes long, makes for a thrilling watch.
Mr Vargas, who has experience handling alligators, explains he decided to approach the gator after learning a trapper would take at least 30 minutes to arrive. Not only that, officials at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told the officer the alligator would likely be euthanized after being caught. This is because the reptile, at its size, posed a threat and was deemed a "nuisance" alligator.
"Officer Vargas said he didn't want that to happen given his background with learning how to capture nuisance gators and return them to their natural habitat," explains the police department in a caption accompanying the video on Facebook.
Mr Vargas can be seen bravely approaching the alligator with a long pole and attempting to capture it. As the gator angrily snaps at him, Mr Vargas flinches.
He eventually manages to get a noose around the gator's neck and then throws his jacket in an attempt to restrain the hissing alligator.
"I just tried to cover its eyes. I tried to calm the alligator down," the
SunSentinel reports Mr Vargas as saying.
With the help of a colleague, Mr Vargas then tapes the alligator's snout shut.
The police department reveals Mr Vargas then carried the reptile into the back seat of his patrol car, drove to a nearby canal, untaped its mouth and released it.
Watch the video below:
On Facebook, the video has been viewed more than 34,000 times and shared over 180 times so far.
"Officer Vargas doesn't know it yet, but we've just made him the department's official alligator wrestler (kidding but not really)," jokes the police department.Click for more
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