Alligator Knocks Florida Wildlife Trapper Unconscious in Video

2018-06-08

A Florida Fish and Wildlife trapper was knocked unconscious when he was head-butted by a rogue alligator.

The trapper, who has not been identified, was called to an Ocoee neighborhood on May 25, after residents reported seeing an 8-foot alligator wandering around.

“It was pretty crazy,” Jack Redding, who witnessed the incident, told Orlando’s WOLF News.

Redding, who said he “didn’t know what to do,” recorded the episode on his cellphone.

The video shows the trapper and two police officers carrying the gator, whose feet and mouth appear to be secured, to the back of a pickup truck. When they heave it into the truck bed, the gator begins to thrash about.

WARNING: The following video may be disturbing to some viewers.

“The gator flipped back and head-butted the guy ― knocked him on the ground,” local resident Walter Day told Orlando’s WKMG-TV. “[At] that point, it was kind of free, and it whacked police officers with its tail.”

The trapper reportedly lost consciousness when he was struck in the head. According to the Ocoee Police Department, he’s recovering.

“So glad that the trapper is doing well and that no one was seriously injured,” reads a Wednesday post on the department’s Facebook page.

As for Redding, he’s just happy he captured it on video.

“My video on YouTube got a lot of views, and I like getting a lot of views,” he told WOLF News.

Send David Lohr an email or follow him on Facebook and Twitter. 

• 2018-06-08
• |
• |