Video Shows 10-Foot Alligator Having "Good Ol' Time" in Neighborhood Road
A gator-wrangler explains how he moved the 1100 lb reptile.
Residents of a quiet Texas neighborhood got an unexpected visitor early in the morning when a 10-foot long alligator was seen relaxing in a driveway of a house, blocking the occupant from leaving. The giant gator moved over into the street where he was seen having a "good ol' time" until the authorities arrived. Best Life Extra spoke with expert alligator wrangler Timothy DeRamus with Bayou City Gator Savers, who was called to the scene to deal with the rascally reptile. Here's how he dealt with the 1,100 lb beast—and what he says you should never do if you see an alligator.
Here's what DeRamus said happened on the morning of September 19 in Atascocita, Houston. "A guy woke up to go to work and had an alligator in his driveway, so he called Texas Parks and Wildlife, and they called the Sheriff's Department, and they called me to come and wrangle that gator because they don't know how to do it," DeRamus says. "It was dark, the alligator was half way underneath a truck in the middle of the road, and his body extended out into the rest of the road. He was trying to back underneath the truck for safety and shelter." Keep reading to learn more and see the video.
DeRamus had a system in place to safely catch the alligator without any harm coming to it, or to people nearby. "Basically, what I did is I put a horse lasso onto the alligator, and I pulled it into the grass for the safety of the alligator so he doesn't harm himself on the concrete," he explains. "He was so big it took me and four officers to get him to the tree, and then he started tumbling around in the grass to tire himself out. Eventually, he got tired enough to where the rope slipped over his eyes and I was able to put tape around his mouth without him seeing me. Once we did that, I got on his back and hog-tied him, and then we called a wrecker service to put him in the bed of my truck because he weighed about 1,100 lbs."
DeRamus took the alligator home with him to roam in his enclosed yard before it was taken to a rescue park called Gator Country. "He's going to the sanctuary in the morning," DeRamus says. His advice if you ever see an alligator strolling down the street. "Stay back, stay away from him. He's going to hiss and warn you that you're too close when you get too close anyway. Call your Park and Wildlife department, and call the police, and they will call a professional like me to come take care of it."
Alligator-wrangling is not for the faint of heart, and experts almost always have to be called in to help. While there are a few seasoned gator-wranglers in the business, DeRamus is often the first port of call. "This will be my tenth year, starting September 1st," he says. "They call me first because I'm a rapid responder and I know how to handle these bigger alligators. Some of these other guys only set traps in the water, but I catch them alive and take them to sanctuaries."
DeRamus has been harmed a surprisingly low number of times considering how many years he's been wrangling alligators. "I've never been attacked," DeRamus says. "I have been bitten three times by two small ones, and once by a larger one on my right thumb." DeRamus says he is not afraid of the alligators—but there are a few creatures he would happily never deal with again. "Spiders. Spiders and scorpions," he says. "You can't ever see them, where they're at." Visit DeRamus' Bayou City Gator Savers Facebook page for more information about his services.
