BULLARD, Texas – First responders in East Texas managed to capture an alligator found in a rural family’s backyard pool this week.
Footage captured by Lacy Jane Turner on Monday showed Smith County Deputy Brian Hutchins and another man using a net and a catchpole to secure the gator outside Turner’s Bullard home.
“There was an alligator coming up our walkway straight to our doggie door,” she said. “It got spooked when we came outside and bailed in our pool.”
The men initially appeared to use a pool net, but Hutchins quickly snared the alligator with a catchpole. The reptile thrashed once the loop tightened around its neck.
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A family in East Texas was relieved when first responders captured an alligator making itself at home in their backyard pool.
(Lacy Jane Turner via Storyful)
“Boom!” someone yelled in the video as Hutchins kept the animal under control. “You, sir, are the wrangler of the alligator.”
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the American alligator is common in swamps, rivers, bayous and marshes of the southern US, including the eastern third of Texas.
“We live in East Texas in the country,” Turner said. “This does not happen here.”