Florida trapper wrangles nearly 9-foot gator from pool with bare hands

Florida has swimming pools and alligators. Sometimes the two come together and a trapper must get involved.

That was the case Wednesday in Parkland, Florida, when Paul Bedard, of Gator Boys Alligator Rescue, got a call about a large alligator found in a swimming pool. 

What made this capture unique was that Bedard got in the pool with the 8-foot, 8-inch gator and trapped it with his bare hands. He then carried the alligator out of the pool and away from the home as if it was a baby. 

In his Instagram post, Bedard said this type of call is fun “because the gator can’t go anywhere and the water’s almost always crystal clear. 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.”

The trapper said the monster gator was “mellow” in that he didn’t want anything to do with Bedard.

Bedard said “I simply made a frontal catch, put a snare on his mouth and taped him up.”

He makes it sound so easy. 

Once the alligator's mouth was taped up, Bedard got the animal to release some energy before getting it out of the pool. He said this is done to keep the alligator from doing a death roll and smashing into the side of the concrete. 

“It was basically as smooth and easy as it gets,” Bedard said in his post. “Thank you Lord, much appreciated.”

We remind you to not try this at home. This trapper is a professional and knows what he is doing.