Alligator knocks out trapper after he cruelly taunts animal
The moment was captured on video
An eight-foot alligator 'head-butted' and sent a trapper, who was trying to remove it from the neighborhood, flying to the ground.
An unbelievable video shows the Government contractor desperately trying to calm the aggressive reptile and place it into the back of a pick-up truck.
The eight-foot long gator is seen opening its mouth and whipping its head around, trying to avoid capture, even fighting back when its legs became bound.
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The incident took place along a residential street in Ocoee, not far from Orlando, back in 2018.
According to locals, the alligator was making its way round the neighborhood for a while before the Florida Fish and Wildlife trappers arrived, with many watching and taking videos on their phones.
"It literally crossed the street from our house," said Jim Jarrells, who lived in the area.
"It walked for 20 steps and then it just [kind of] sat down and walked for 20 steps and sat down," added fellow neighbor Walter Day. "It was [kind of] odd to watch."
The video shows the trapper trying to secure the animal, aided by a team of people, some wearing 'police' vests.
The trapper was close to capturing the reptile, until it unexpectedly lunged towards the man, 'head-butting' and knocking him out, causing him to fall to the ground while another officer received a strike to the head.
"The gator flipped back and head-butted the guy," Day said. "[It] knocked him to the ground. At that point, it was [kind of] free and whacked police officers with its tail."
The animal then wiggled and fell to the floor in an effort to escape, but was later re-captured and taken away.
"It was a pretty good size," Jarrells added. "It was pretty fat."
"There was a gator in my neighbourhood and a FWC trapper came to catch em!" wrote the video uploader under the username JR Outdoors. "He got kinda hurt but was ok and finished putting the gator in his truck."
Thankfully, the trapper recovered from the blow.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission employs 'nuisance alligator trappers' in order to capture the animals and avoid chaos by 'catching unwanted gators throughout the streets'.
There are conditions however, which determine what is considered a 'nuisance'. An alligator has to be over four-foot to be classed as a nuisance, they must almost be a 'threat' to the neighborhood, people, pets or property.
Experts told WKMG-TV that there were two likely reasons the reptile was prowling the area - it was looking for a mate or hunting for its next meal.
Chelsea Connor