Sarasota County deputies had a massive challenge this week when they teamed up with a professional trapper to remove a 600-pound, 14-foot alligator. Dramatic video released by the sheriff’s office captured seven officers working together to wrangle and secure the huge reptile.
The trapper skillfully clamped the alligator’s powerful jaws shut while the seven deputies quickly swarmed in, pinning down its legs and giant tail to subdue the beast.
As a team, they muscled the gator up and into the bed of a pickup truck. (RELATED: 500-Pound Bear Discovered Living Under California House ‘Rent-Free’)
This removal happened just as alligator activity in Florida starts to taper off for the season, with the reptiles typically becoming dormant during the cooler winter months.
Alligators cease feeding once temperatures hit under 70°F and enter a dormant, low-activity state when temperatures dip below 55°F, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
WATCH:
An entire team of deputies was dispatched to remove a 14-foot alligator from a neighbourhood.
The massive reptile, which weighed 600 pounds, required a skilled trapper to take him into custody after blocking a road.
Seven deputies from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office were… pic.twitter.com/p75xmPxytw— The Independent (@Independent) December 4, 2025
As of late, daytime highs in Sarasota County have been hovering in the 70s, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
As cold-blooded animals, reptiles depend on the sun to keep their body temperature in check. Florida’s iguanas are similar during winter cold snaps, becoming lethargic and cold-stunned, sometimes falling stiffly from trees when temperatures plummet.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the alligator was safely relocated and released to an alligator farm.