Barehanded Deputy Wrangles Alligator in Florida Front Yard

Palm Coast, United States – A Flagler County sheriff's deputy wrangled a small alligator barehanded from a hole in a front yard and later released it into a nearby pond.

Body camera footage released by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, November 10, shows the deputy reaching into a muddy hole in a residential yard on Monday, November 9, lifting out the writhing alligator with his bare hands, taping its mouth shut and carrying it to a metal cage in the back of a truck. The deputy is later seen holding the animal at the edge of a pond and releasing it into the water.

A woman nearby can be heard saying, "All this work for that?" after seeing the alligator. The deputy calls it "a little guy" as he places it in the cage.

No one was hurt. Local reports put the alligator at about three feet long.