12-Foot Alligator Approached 4-Year-Old Texas Girl, Father's Quick Response Saved Child

A Texas father's quick response helped save the day after a huge alligator got too close to his 4-year-old daughter. The incident took place when the child was fishing and catching crabs in a canal behind their home in League City.

Andrew Grande noticed the 12-foot-long reptile approaching his young child and he immediately sprung into action. The young child's brother and their babysitter were also near the canal.

"When I first saw [the alligator], the only thing I was thinking of was just getting my daughter, just getting her out of the way, " he told CNN of the late-July incident. "What his intentions were, I'm not 100% sure, but I wasn't going to find out."

The man said he rushed out, picked up his daughter and threw her over their fence, and swiftly grabbed his son and got the babysitter to safety.

"He was by far the biggest one we've ever seen, and in fact, they have never done that before. Usually, they keep their distance, just pass by," he added of the nearly 600-pound alligator. "You don't even know they're there, but this guy's intentions were definitely a little different."

"He was just so big that if he had jumped out he would have just broken the fence, he was just that heavy," Grande said. He also noted that the alligator continued to retreat for the next "20 or 30 minutes" even after Grande went behind the home’s fence.

Five hours after the initial encounter, an alligator hunter Grande called was able to capture the reptile. The animal was then relocated to the Gator Country wildlife rescue park in Beaumont, Texas.