WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — A bit of chaos ensued outside an elementary school in Wesley Chapel this week when a 9-foot-long alligator nearly got loose from the trapper wrangling it.
In the video captured by Carolynn Jones, you can see the trapper sitting on the gator and lifting its snout while several people hold restraints. As the man does so, the gator starts flailing and manages to buck the trapper off its back, getting dangerously close to biting him as it attempts to turn.
Dade City’s Mark Penix is the man in the video, he has been a licensed nuisance alligator trapper since retiring from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
“I had no idea he had come that close until I watched the video in slow motion and said woah that was close,” Penix told 10 Tampa Bay.
On that day, Penix was actually trapping a different gator in a nearby subdivision, when he stepped on a sharp Cypress Tree stump, puncturing his foot.
“Now I'm leaving out of there going to the emergency room to get my foot fixed and as I pull out the subdivision, I see police officers in the middle of the road with this big alligator. I'm like, 'You got to be kidding me.' I said, 'Well, I gotta catch him,'” Penix recalled.
He says that’s just the life of a true trapper, so he went to do his job with essentially, one good foot.
“It's one of those very, very scary moments because you don't want to have an alligator going into the bus ramp with kindergarteners and first graders and second graders. So that played a part in me taking action right at that point,” he added.
He says his injury is what caused the kerfuffle while trying to wrangle the 400-pound beast in.
“With the injury, I couldn't put all my weight down to control the alligator so when he started to roll, I could feel him starting to do this. And so I wanted to get off as soon as I could. And so when I jump back and try to kick away from it [that's when it happens],” Penix said.
Years of instincts from a life-long gator lover kicked in, fortunately making the incident just a close call. Ultimately they got the job done, and the gator was removed.
Penix says he’s now watching the game tape — akin to his star Quarterback nephew Michael Penix Jr. — to keep his trapping skills sharp.
“I critique myself and you know, if I had to again, I would let another trapper come and take care of it because I was too injured to even be on that gator's back after I looked at that video,” he added.
Mark says he’s going to stay off his feet for the time being, but he’s hoping to be back out there trapping gators in a few days.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for more information and the agency sent the following statement:
"On April 30, 2024, a contracted nuisance alligator trapper for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) responded to a report of an alligator walking down a street in Wesley Chapel. The 9’ alligator was captured and removed by the trapper."
According to the FWC, May and June are peak months for alligator mating season. Courtship begins before that in April.
This could mean more alligators can be seen roaming in areas they shouldn't be as they search for a mate.
Anyone concerned about an alligator should call FWC's toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286. After someone calls the hotline, FWC sends a contracted nuisance alligator to safely remove and potentially relocate the gator.