Residents Shaken to Find 10-Foot Crocodile Thrashing and Hissing in Their Pool
The reptile was “enjoying a soak” before being captured
The majority of homeowners with swimming pools are no strangers to finding critters swimming around in them. From frogs and snakes to various birds, many animals enjoy taking a dip on occasion even when uninvited. However, those who live in some of the southern states, most commonly Florida, sometimes return home to find increasingly more dangerous pool crashers swimming in their backyard sanctuary: Alligators and crocodiles. Over the weekend, a family in the Florida Keys was the unlucky host of one of these large reptiles and the pool invasion was caught on camera.
The family, who lives in Plantation Key, Florida, returned home and found a 10-foot crocodile swimming in their pool. They didn't try to get rid of the beast on their own and instead called Todd Hardwick with Pesky Critters Wildlife Control.
The capture was caught on a cellphone video, which is going viral. "I got him, I got him," Hardwick says, while the enormous croc roars, thrashing around while the trappers kept it on a leash.
"It was just enjoying a soak in the pool when we got there," said Hardwick. "We started the capture, crocodile rolled quite a bit, threw a lot of water out onto the patio deck," said Hardwick. "It made it quite slippery and little bit dangerous."
How did the large animal find its way into the pool? "It turns out that the animal had actually come up a boat ramp from the canal in a neighboring yard and the found a gap in the homeowners' backyard to gain access to the swimming pool," said Hardwick.
He added that April through June is a busy time of the year for pool crashes. "I've been in this for a very long time, and this is probably one of the busiest stretches I remember for large animals," he said. "Before you go swimming at night, turn on the pool lights and make sure there's nobody else already in the pool," he said.
After being captured, the crocodile was returned it a safe place. "Once the animal was returned to its saltwater habitat, he swam off and was quite happy to be back there," said Hardwick.
