SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies in Southwest Florida had their hands full when a 14-foot, 600-pound alligator decided to rest on the doorstep of a Sarasota residence.
It took seven deputies with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and a licensed trapper to dislodge the massive reptile and lift it onto a truck.
“This massive guest had plans to stay for the holidays, but we had other ideas,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
“I need someone on that leg right there,” one deputy can be heard in the video as the team surrounds the gator and works to lift the gator.
The alligator was nearly a record-breaker for length, coming up a few inches short of the state’s record.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state record is 14 feet, 3 1/2 inches. That male alligator was measured from Lake Washington in Brevard County on Florida’s east coast.
The heaviest alligator on record in the Sunshine State is 1,043 pounds, set by a 13-foot 10-1/2-inches male from Orange Lake in Alachua County.
The sheriff’s office said the Sarasota visitor was safely relocated and released on an alligator farm.
“With a wave goodbye, we say, ‘See ya later, Alligator!’” the sheriff’s office wrote.
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