9-Foot Alligator Near School Bus Stop Removed In Florida [Photos, Video]

An alligator was removed from the lawn of a residential building located near a school bus stop in Florida on Thursday. Collier County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) posted photos of the nine-foot-long reptile, adding that children were waiting at the school bus stand near the area where officials were called to remove the creature.

“We got a call at about 6:30 a.m. EDT today for a massive gator in a residential area of Golden Gate city. Kids were waiting nearby at their bus stop, but we're pretty sure this critter wasn't heading to school,” the caption accompanying the photos read. “Trapper Ray Simonsen, Cpl. Jerrod Carver from our Agricultural Unit and Cpl. Edward Costello are pictured here getting a hold of the nine-feet [sic] male alligator so he could be removed. No one was injured during the wrestling match. Just another day in paradise, huh?”

In a video of the capture, also posted on Facebook by the sheriff’s office, three animal control officials were seen trying to remove the reptile from the area. At least one of them was from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). While one of them pointed a shotgun at the animal – ready to fire if things went sideways – the other two approached the alligator from the opposite side, trying to trap it.

The alligator, hiding among the bushes that lined a residential building in the area, was seen hissing at the trappers in the video. As one of the wranglers tugged on a rope that appeared to have a hold of the inside of the reptile’s mouth, the enormous creature started doing a body roll – commonly known as the “death roll” – which is a spinning maneuver carried out by alligators and crocodiles to subdue and dismember preys. It involves “rapid rotation about the longitudinal axis of the body,” according to the Journal of Experimental Biology.

On the same day, an 8-foot-long alligator was caught by an official in Immokalee. "Cpl. Justin Morgan single-handedly captured this 8-foot alligator in Immokalee about an hour ago. The gator was in the yard of a residence on Durso Court. Cpl. Morgan estimated it took him around 20 minutes to capture and secure the gator, which he then placed in the backseat of his patrol vehicle until wildlife officers arrived to remove it," the CCSO said in another post.

According to the FWC, alligators in the United States were usually found from “southeast Oklahoma and east Texas on the western side of their range to North Carolina and Florida in the east.” The animals prefer fresh water lakes and sluggish rivers near their wetlands, but they sometimes dwell in brackish water habitats. Very rarely do they choose to stay in salt water.

The alligators usually roam farther from their lagoons during their mating season in May and June. Their metabolisms are increased due to warmer temperatures outside, making them more active and aggressive as they hunt for prey and mate. This might explain the presence of the reptile in the residential area Thursday.