An 80-year-old Florida man took matters into his own hands when a huge alligator walked into his backyard Tuesday afternoon.
Ed Chapman, from Miami-Dade County, tried to catch the 6-and-a-half-foot gator himself before he had to call in backup from police and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, local outlet 7News reported.
“That thing tugged me all over,” he told the outlet. “Carried me, twisting and fighting me all the way across the property.”
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Chapman used his noose pole and got it around the gator’s neck, but the gator fought back.
“He swatted me with his tail and knocked my legs out from under me,” he said, telling the outlet he fell on his side but kept trying to stop the alligator, which fought against Chapman to a pond nearby.
“Then he got his front legs down in the reeds there, and then we went all the way down and he had his face in the water,” he said.
"In the meantime, I called 911,” he added. “I said, 'I just need some help. I got it contained, but I need some help. I can't get it out by myself.’"
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According to 7News, officials responded within 30 minutes of his call and no one was hurt.
A part of the alligators tail had been cut off in the wild, officials told the outlet. If the gator had its whole tail, it would have been 8 feet long.
However, Chapman, who breeds wolves and keeps about 60 poisonous snakes for venom research, wasn’t particularly fazed, 7News reported.
“I’ve just been around this stuff a long time,” he said.
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