80-year-old man wrangles alligator in backyard

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Despite his age, an 80-year-old man in southwest Miami-Dade County in Florida, USA, was strong enough to wrangle a large alligator in his own backyard.

The man, identified as Ed Chapman, said that his dog Rocco alerted him about the six-and-a-half-foot animal in his backyard. He also tried to trap it himself, local media WSVN reported on Tuesday.

“That thing tugged me all over,” he was quoted in the report as saying. “Carried me, twisting and fighting me all the way across the property.”

In an attempt to lure the animal, Chapman said he brought out a noose and got around the alligator’s neck.

However, the animal was not going down without a fight. “He swatted me with his tail and knocked my legs out from under me,” he said. Chapman went on to say that the alligator “argued together,” until they got all the way to a pond. When asked what he meant when he said “argued,” he replied:  “Yeah, we argued. Yeah, he wasn’t happy.”

“And 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,” Chapman said about his encounter with the animal.

The man then called 911 for help, to which the Miami-Dade police and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded.

The report said that Chapman’s experience was nothing new, as he collects poisonous snakes for venom research and breeds wolves.

However, he disagreed with someone when he was described as a tough guy. “Nah, not tough. I’ve just been around this stuff a long time,” Chapman said. Katrina Hallare /ra

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