WATCH: Florida police officer wrangles wayward gator
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Just add "alligator wrangler" to this Florida officer's job duties!
Officers had to round up a trespassing alligator that made itself welcome near the front door of a Boynton Beach home.
Officer Alfredo Vargas couldn't wait for a trapper to arrive at the scene of the call for the trespassing alligator, and police say it was likely the trapper would kill the gator. So, Officer Vargas, who had learned to handle and wrestle alligators in Hollywood, Florida was able to put his own skills to the test.
Officer Vargas didn't want the gator to be trapped and killed, so he contacted Florida Fish and Wildlife officers who said he could catch and release the gator somewhere else.
He then safely secured the alligator himself.
Body camera video shows the gator hissing at the officer, and then after a couple tries, the officer managed to snag it with a catch pole and get onto its back where he secured its snout with tape.
The officer then put it into the back of his patrol car and took it to a nearby canal.
Officer Vargas was able to remove the tape from around the gator's mouth and put it back in the water. "Officer Vargas doesn't know it yet, but we've just made him the department's official alligator wrestler (kidding but not really," the Boynton Beach Police Department wrote on its YouTube page.