Trapper Uses Unusual Method to Get Gator Out of Pool

A Florida animal trapper says he corralled a large alligator by playing with it until it got tired after it hopped into a residential swimming pool. Celebrity trapper Paul Bedard, who is contracted with the state's nuisance alligator program, said Thursday that he was dispatched to a house in Parkland, Fla. Bedard said he was able to pull the nearly 9-foot animal out of the water once it grew tired from playing with him in the pool on Wednesday. He put a snare on its mouth and taped it, reports the AP.

"These are actually fun because the gator can’t go anywhere, and the water’s almost always crystal clear," Bedard tells the Tampa Bay Times. "So all I have to do is jump in the water and play around with him until he’s tired." He described the reptile as "mellow" and named it Cool Hand Luke after the 1967 film starring Paul Newman. Bedard said the alligator weighed 185 pounds. Bedard starred in Animal Planet's reality show Gator Boys.

(More alligator stories.)