Florida Man Uses Recycling Bin To Take On, Trap Alligator

ORANGE COUNTY, FL — An alligator was nearly taken to the curb this week when a Florida man took matters into his own hands after the reptile wandered just a little too close to an Orange County home.

Eugene Bozzi, a Philadelphia transplant who has lived in the Sunshine State for a year, was captured on video wrangling the alligator — using nothing but a blue-lidded recycling bin.

"Somebody's gotta step up and do something,” Bozzi told Orlando-based WESH. “We all got to look out for each other, right?"

While Bozzi isn’t a trained wildlife wrangler, he is a dad. He’s also a military veteran, WESH reported.

When he saw the alligator in front of a neighbor’s home, his military training kicked in.

Dressed in nothing but shorts, a T-shirt, socks and slippers, Bozzi tipped the recycling bin on its side, scooping up the alligator as if he was taking out this week’s recyclables. The alligator certainly wasn’t on board, but Bozzi managed to drag the bin to a retention pond, where he released the gator, NBC News reported.

"I don't know the procedures, so I did it my own way," he told WESH.

While Bozzi did it his own way, Orange County officials had plenty to say about the valiant capture. Many couldn’t resist sneaking a few jokes into the bin themselves.

The official Twitter account of Orange County, Florida, retweeted the video, saying: "Reminder: Alligators are not recyclable in your blue lid cart."

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission also was in on it, tweeting this:

While Bozzi makes catching an alligator look as easy as taking out the trash, please don’t try this at home. People concerned about an alligator should call the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286.

A nuisance alligator is defined as one that’s at least 4 feet in length and believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property.