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Young gator found with deep snare in his snout
A young alligator was found with a snare trapped in its snout. A Florida alligator trapper helped catch the gator and brought it to someone else to help it recover.
ST JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. - A young alligator got a second lease on life after a Florida trapper hired to remove it from a St. Augustine neighborhood noticed it was in need of some help. Turns out, it had a snare embedded into its upper jaw.
AJ Ellis, a licensed alligator trapper contracted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), was hired to remove the alligator. He went out to the neighborhood on December 10. After reeling it in, he noticed it had an injury to its face.
"That’s terrible, man; God, people are terrible," Ellis could be heard saying on his GoPro video. "Why would somebody try and do that?"
Ellis said he believes the snare is the result of poaching, or a failed attempt at catching the gator. Both instances would be considered felonies in Florida, punishable by prison time, he said.
"Don’t interfere with wildlife," Ellis said. "Leave it to somebody who’s trained – a professional."
According to FWC guidelines, to be a nuisance gator, the animal must be at least 4 feet long and believed to be a threat.
Licensed trappers contracted by the agency, like Ellis, are then issued alligator harvest permits. Once caught, the animals are usually either sold for their meat and hide – or euthanized. In very few circumstances, they're relocated.
With several hundred trappings under his belt, Ellis said this one was different.
"As soon as I saw him, I started thinking, ‘hey it’d be nice to get this gator some help,’" Ellis said. "He was definitely really feisty, which was a good sign… kind of gave me some hope that he’d be able to make it."
Ellis removed the snare and contacted Chris Gillette, owner of Bellowing Acres Animal Sanctuary in Interlachen. The alligator was transported to the nonprofit sanctuary in north Florida.
"Right now, we have him set up in a temporary enclosure," Gillette said.
‘Trap Jaw’, as he is now called, joins eight other gators and more than 200 animals. Gillette said he is settling in well and is being treated with topical meds.
"He’s a little 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. "Thankfully, alligators are incredible animals at healing, and I imagine within a year or two you won’t even be able to tell that gator ever had a snare on there."
Both Gillette and Ellis have extensive experience with gators. Neither man has ever seen one with a snare around its mouth, and both said the animal would not have lived much longer had it not been removed.
Ellis shares his gator-trapping adventures on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.