A wild video shows a U.S. Army veteran capturing an alligator in a garbage can outside a Florida residence.
The ordeal began when army veteran Eugene Bozzi, 26, was speaking with his nephew in the garage. Suddenly the pair “heard a little commotion outside,” the veteran told the New York Post. “My daughter was riding a bike, and she was like, ‘Hey this big alligator just hissed at me!'”
The viral video, posted to Bozzi’s Instagram on September 28, shows the 26-year-old walking toward the alligator with an open trash barrel on his front lawn.
“I went over there and it was bigger than me. There were other peoples’ kids out there, also. Military instinct kicked in — and, you know, ‘protect at all costs,'” Bozzi told the New York Post.
Bozzi held the barrel horizontally and pushes it toward the alligator’s head in the video. He then turned to a bystander and says, “let me know when the head is going inside. Let me know.”
Bozzi continued to push the barrel, and the bystander responded, “It’s in. It’s in!” The Army veteran then flipped the top of the barrel down, whacking the gator in the head. The animal thrashed into the barrel in a fit of rage. Bozzi lifted the bin upright as the gator ventures further in, allowing gravity to pull the animal to the bottom of the barrel. The veteran then received cheers and applause from bystanders as he secured the reptile and released it in a pond across the street.
“He didn’t put up a big fight,” Bozzi explained to the New York Post. “I could’ve been more aggressive, but I don’t like to hurt animals so I took him down safely, and everything worked out.”
The Post asked Bozzi what prompted him to use the trash barrel. It was “big enough to scare him into thinking that’s a mouth,” and “cuz I watch a lot of ‘Animal Planet’ videos, and he’s going to think that I’m like a hippo or something.”
Bozzi posted another video to Instagram on September 30, in which he thanked followers for their support. “I just want to say thank you to a lot of people showing me support,” he said. “Thank you to a lot of people for telling me I’m a dickhead for fucking with an alligator, which I should have never did. I appreciate the love.”