Trapper plays with alligator until it tires, pulls it from pool

Associated Press
Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 2:00 p.m. | Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 2:00 p.m.

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This Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2019 handout photo shows Paul Bedard raising a 9-foot alligator over his head at a home in Parkland, Fla. Bedard, a local trapper, removed the nuisance reptile that had jumped into a customer’s pool. Bedard stars in the Animal Planet show “Gator Boys.”

PARKLAND, Fla. — A Florida animal trapper says he corralled a large alligator by playing with it until it got tired after it hopped into a residential swimming pool.

Celebrity trapper Paul Bedard, who is contracted with the state’s nuisance alligator program, said Thursday that he was dispatched to a house in Parkland, Florida.

Bedard said he was able to pull the nearly 9-foot animal out of the water once it grew tired from playing with him in the pool on Wednesday. He put a snare on its mouth and taped it.

He described the reptile as “mellow” and named it Cool Hand Luke after the 1967 film starring Paul Newman.

Bedard said the alligator weighed 185 pounds.

Bedard starred in Animal Planet’s reality show “Gator Boys.”