Published 15:59 IST, October 18th 2019
Florida animal trapper Paul Bedard plays with alligator to rescue it
A Florida animal trapper recently said that he played with a nearly 9-foot alligator until it got tired after it hopped into a residential swimming pool.
- World News
- 3 min read
"Chill time" was what this alligator had in mind when it crawled into a residential swimming pool in Parkland, Florida. So, when celebrity trapper Paul Bedard joined him in the pool to coax him out, it was only a cakewalk for him.
The Florida trapper said that all he had to do was play with the alligator until it got tired before rescuing it. Photos of Bedard rescuing the nearly 9-foot alligator with his bare hands had been doing the rounds on social media.
'Played with him'
According to reports, Bedard, who is currently contracted with Florida's nuisance alligator program, was dispatched to a house in Parkland on Wednesday. In the caption accompanying the images of the rescue he posted on Instagram, Bedard wrote: "I haven't had a good-sized gator in a swimming pool in probably a year, so I was kind of looking forward to this when I got the call. These are actually fun because the gator can't go anywhere and the water's almost always crystal clear (sic)".
"So all I have to do is jump in the water play around with him until he's tired and I can either hold his mouth shut and put a snare on it and tape it, or if he super energetic I can get him tired enough where I can just pick him up without the tape and carry him out in the yard and then tape him up once I get there (sic)," he added.
In his Instagram post he said: I simply made a frontal catch put a snare on his mouth and taped him up. Then finally got him to expend some energy... I didn't want to pull him out of the water until he was tired, because he'll usually go into a death roll and smash himself up on the concrete or, if he's not taped, bite the concrete or something so it's always better to make him expend that energy in the water where is not going to get banged up
The reptile was so 'mellow' that he named it Cool Hand Luke after the 1967 film starring Paul Newman. Bedard said that alligator weighed 83.2 kilograms or 185 pounds.
Bedard has starred previously in Animal Planet's reality show “Gator Boys.”
Netizens can't stop buzzing
Meanwhile, it has become the talk of the town among netizens. While one user said, “FLORIDA MAN STRIKES AGAIN!.”, “Savage,” said another. Another user suggested, “Why do they call him gator boy?.”
(With inputs from AP)
Updated 16:57 IST, October 18th 2019