10-foot alligator captured from underneath car as mating season gets underway
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TAMPA (WFOR) — Love is in the air if you’re an alligator or crocodile. And that means everyone else has to be on the lookout for amorous alligators and frisky crocs who are more active and visible this time of year and potentially more aggressive. That may be why the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was called about a giant gator discovered under a parked car at an apartment complex in Tampa on March 31.
The caller advised there was a pond nearby, but this was no small gator. It was 10’2”.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission dispatched a contracted nuisance alligator trapper to transfer the alligator to an alligator farm.
The alligator’s capture was recorded on a deputy’s body camera.
The gator was not harmed and fortunately, no one was injured.
Alligators begin to court in April but mating runs May through June according to the FWC.
It’s likely more alligators will be seen in lakes, rivers and habitats where they live and males will also move over land during this time of year, from one body of water to another.
Anyone who spots an alligator where it doesn’t belong should remember to keep a safe distance and call FWC’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 𝟴𝟲𝟲-𝟯𝟵𝟮-𝟰𝟮𝟴𝟲.
FWC says an alligator can be considered a nuisance if it is at least four feet in length and could be a threat to people, pets or property.
FWC also wants to remind the public to keep your pets on a leash and away from the water’s edge, swim only in designated swimming areas during the daylight (gators are most active between dusk and dawn) and never feed a gator.
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