Alligator trapper saves gator in St. Augustine by removing jaw snare

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. (WSVN) – An alligator in St. Augustine will be getting a second chance at life after his catcher noticed something was off. The trapper who was hired to remove the gator was reeling in the reptile when he realized it had something dangerous stuck around its jaw.

It was a normal gig for nuisance alligator trapper AJ Ellis in St. Augustine

“Looks like he’s got an injury on his face,” Ellis said.

When Ellis reeled in the 5-foot gator on Tuesday, he noticed it had a snare embedded into its upper jaw.

“That’s terrible, man,” he said. “God, people are terrible. Why would somebody try and do that?”

Ellis thinks the snare was the result of poaching or a failed attempt at catching the gator. Both are felonies and punishable by prison time.

“Don’t interfere with wildlife,” he said. “Leave it to somebody who’s trained. A professional.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said a nuisance gator must be at least 4 feet long and believed to be a threat.

Licensed trappers contracted by the agency, like Ellis, are issued alligator harvest permits.

“Got the snare off of him,” he said. “It’s done pretty good bit of damage here.”

Once it was caught, the gators are usually either sold for their meat and hide or are euthanized.

With several hundred trappings under his belt, Ellis knew this one was different.

“As soon as I saw him, I started thinking, ‘Hey, it’d be nice to get this gator some help,'” he said.

So the nuisance gator is now getting a new lease on life.

“Right now, we have him set up in a temporary enclosure,” said Chris Gillette, owner of Bellowing Acres Animal Sanctuary.

The gator, now called Trap Jaw, is the newest resident at the animal sanctuary near Gainesville. It’s being treated for the injury created by the snare.

“He’s a little bit on the skinny side, so we’ll try to fatten him up a little bit, get him nice and healthy and allow him to grow out of that mark from the snare,” Gillette said.

Ellis said the animal would not have lived much longer had the snare not been removed.