A 12-foot alligator was found on a Florida highway: 'He wasn't happy'

MarKeith Cromartie
June 20, 2019




TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It's not every day you see a 12-foot, 463-pound alligator wandering on an interstate. But that was the case earlier this month in Florida.

Broderick Vaughan, who has been trapping nuisance alligators in Leon County, Florida, for nearly 10 years, was in awe when he got the call about the behemoth wandering on Interstate 10 in Tallahassee.

“I’ve been the trapper here in Leon County since April 2010 and that was the third-biggest gator I’ve captured,” said Vaughan, the owner of Vaughan’s Gators. “That was a pretty big one and he wasn’t happy that we were trying to remove him.”

The Tallahassee Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol responded to calls at about midnight on June 3 about the massive reptile. The exit had to be closed for a few hours to keep drivers away from the huge gator, which had apparently wandered onto the highway.

The alligator was injured after being hit in the snout by a semi-truck. It was stunned and walking in circles when law enforcement officers arrived.

Vaughan was called and arrived less than an hour later. He was able to wrap his snare pole around the tired creature, tape its snout shut and load it on his truck using a hoist machine.

The gator was safely removed, but it had to be euthanized later because of the severity of its injuries.