...after 'while crocodile! The trappers (licensed and FWC assigned) came mid-afternoon Wednesday and tried to lure him with a hunk of raw meat, but the gator seemed to know what they were up to and decided he'd rather hide in the muck at the bottom of the pond for a while.
Rather than wait for him to surface, the trappers hung the hooked bait from a cypress limb over the pond, secured the line around the tree trunk, and said they'd return at dusk, unless the gator took the bait before then.
Which he did.
Shortly after the trappers left, the gator came up to the surface, noticed the bait and stared at it (sometimes just inches away) for about an hour before giving into temptation and biting the hook.
Alligators have powerful muscles for biting, but the muscle they use to open their jaw is much weaker. An adult man can hold an alligator's mouth closed with their bare hands.
Though the population of alligators in Florida is not endangered or threatened, it is illegal to trap or kill a nuisance alligator without a permit because the crocodile population is threatened, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is afraid that the general public might harm or kill a crocodile instead of an alligator.
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