Barefoot gator wrangler comes to the rescue as three-metre monster invades school playground
This is not a normal sight in any school playground, even in areas where alligators are regular residents.
Geneva Classical Academy in Florida, US, came to a standstill last week when this massive gator made its way onto the grounds.
The three-metre long monster appeared just as students were lining up to be dismissed for the day. But getting home from school on that day would take a little longer than usual.
Students stood well back as a bare-foot trapper roped and wrangled the wayward reptile.
Police were also called to the scene but their skills were more attuned to arresting humans than large gators.
Video of the incident uploaded to Facebook by Mary Cummins reveals that alligator wrangling can be a calm affair.
The footage has drawn in hundreds of thousands of viewers but not all were impressed with the trapper’s techniques.
“Didn't like the way the trapper was treating the gator,” Christine Cantiliano wrote on the school’s Facebook page.
“Yanking the beast around for show. Trap him and get him out I'm sure it was stressed and dehydrated. Show kids compassion and the amazing power of nature.... (sic) not head jerking and laughing about it.
“Perfect oop (sic) to teach kids of our encroachment on animals...”
The school was quick to allay any concerns though.
“Thank you for your concern Christine and your love of God's created animals,” it wrote.
“The trapper was actually treating the alligator quite humanely. Shaking its tail was not for a show. It is a way of numbing its senses and subduing it so that he can safely remove it as was the knocking upon its snout.
“It had just come up out of a ditch so we do not believe it was dehydrated either. As this area is not a newly developed area, the concern for encroachment upon the animals does not really apply to this particular instance either.”
After the ordeal was over, the school returned to its Facebook page to update the public on the results.
“Our students received a good Polk County education today: how to trap a 9’11” gator,” the school wrote on its Facebook page.
