On April 3, 2002, Phil Brown checked the bait prior to his morning cup of coffee. It was still on the pole. Two days prior, Phil had added a couple of pieces of beef liver to the preferred bait of cow's lung. In about 10 minutes, neighbor George Hollenbeck came to the door and told Phil there was an alligator in the side yard. Phil immediately check it out and there it was lying in the grass. It stood up on its feet and opened its mouth wide hissing at Phil. Needless to say, Phil backed away quickly. As Phil went to tell his wife Martha and get the telephone number of Alligator Trapper Terry Hanson, Phil noticed the bait was no longer on the pole. What a relief! That meant the alligator was not going to get away.
Phil quickly got into his crowd control shirt while Martha called Mr. Hanson. What luck! He was only 5 minutes away. By this time the crowd was gathering and Phil had work to do keeping them back away from the alligator. The alligator could have broken loose at any second and charge the crowd ripping off any legs in its path.
Mr. Hanson arrived in what seemed like only a second. He quickly calmed everyone and got to the business of removing the alligator. First, he took a big noose on a pole and caught it around the alligator's neck. Once that was secured, he tied the noose to a tree. Now the crowd was safe. He quickly approached the alligator from the rear and straightened out its tail. Then, he gently got on the alligator's back and taped its mouth shut with black electrical tape. Mr. Hanson had previously discussed with Phil that duct tape would tear easily with the strength of an alligator jaw, so that is why electrical tape is used to keep the alligator's mouth closed. He then pulled out his tape measure and measured the alligator to be 7 foot 1 inch long.
He then cut the original line from the baited pole that was holding the alligator and quickly pulled the alligator to his waiting truck with the noose firmly attached around the alligator's neck. With the help of our own famous Buccaneer wildlife exterminator and trapper, Gary Pollard, and passerby visitor Mark Cichon, the son-in-law of our own John DiGanci of 269 Blue Beard Drive, the alligator was hoisted into the box on the back of the truck. Everyone was surprised when Mr. Hanson mentioned to Gary and Mark to be careful because there was another alligator in the box. At first everyone though he was just kidding, but sure enough, another alligator really was in the box.
The whole process took about 15 minutes. For those of you who missed it, perhaps this story and the photos will excite you as much as the real thing did for many of us. There are still alligators around; one of which is approaching 13 foot in length. Mr. Hanson indicated the smaller alligator, 5 to 10 foot in length, were more dangerous than the older, larger alligators. It seems the younger, smaller alligators have no fear of anyone or anything. The older, larger alligator only got to be larger because they are more cautious and tend to stay away from people more. Perhaps we were lucky to catch the smaller alligator. Even so, we will continue to keep the pole baited for other alligators.
While one dangerous pest has been removed, it doesn't mean another one just like it or larger won't be here tomorrow. Alligators tend to move around more over land during the night, so if you see any big, long black 13 foot logs in your path, you may want to make an extra wide circle around it. (Terry Hanson and Phil Brown pictured below)
