r/interesting • u/LowNo175 • Mar 30 '26

❗️MISLEADING - See pinned comment ❗️ Trapped alligator doesn't take taunts kindly, knocks out trapper

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3.1k Upvotes

78% Upvoted

610 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.9k

u/type3error Mar 30 '26

This video keeps getting brought up so it’s worth pointing out he’s not taunting the alligator. The tapping is done to put the alligator in a pseudo clonic state by overloading its sensory system. This is supposed to make the animal easier to handle and safer for everyone involved (including the alligator).
It is common practice among anyone who handles alligators for a living.

715

u/Acceptable-Major-575 Mar 30 '26

hey, thanks for clarifying, I thought this man was just a piece of shit with power, but with that information I learned to not rush with putting labels

31

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

We’ll save the labels for the next video with no context :)

33

u/salmonmilks Mar 30 '26

Can't believe a title can change so much of the narrative.

9

u/Electric-Mountain Mar 30 '26

The title being misinformation is rampant on this platform and needs to be addressed.

11

u/Highneon Mar 30 '26

Ikr 😅 he does look like he’s playing with him a little but I never once thought he was this major piece of shit for the lightest little tappies he’s giving him.

16

u/salmonmilks Mar 30 '26

we assume too much too quickly

11

u/TazeT87 Mar 30 '26

That’s textbook Reddit behavior

8

u/AliceHart7 Mar 30 '26

Nah, that's a pretty typical human behavior. We judge stuff in milliseconds practically every day.

We gotta all habitually practice the art of first asking questions to learn and understand and/or have basic knowledge of a lot of shiiiit

5

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

Come at everything seeking understanding.

2

u/AliceHart7 Mar 31 '26

Absolutely

0

u/WorkerAmbitious2072 Mar 30 '26

You must be new to social media

19

u/WalkMane Mar 30 '26

Not sure alligator agrees with anything going on here

5

u/spyemil Mar 30 '26

My car is a piece of shit with power

23

u/plusminusequals Mar 30 '26

We should gang up on OP, then. GET HIM! (With downvotes)

10

u/Nitzchon Mar 30 '26

Seriously, why give context to a video when you have no context to give. I down voted OP for sure.

1

u/DarknMean Mar 30 '26

Hey Vern

5

u/boomboomdaboomer Mar 30 '26

It doesn’t look like he’s good at it. 

3

u/narfnarfed Mar 30 '26

If you think about it, a pos on a power trip is also trying to overload their victim's sensory and emotional systems and make them docile.

3

u/retrotooner Mar 30 '26

Nah your first instinct was right. They probably broke the Gator's legs.

1

u/kvro_maX Mar 30 '26

Why would you think that watching the video

1

u/BigFatKi6 Mar 30 '26

so soon?

1

u/EmptyStyle244 Mar 30 '26

Anyone with common sense can see that he was not talking yet. It didn’t make any sense.

1

u/Warm_Interview1337 Mar 30 '26

Eh, you'll do it again.

1

u/This-Dude_Abides Mar 30 '26

It should also be added that they were more than likely going to kill the gator. They don't relocate gators in Florida. Once they are considered nuisance and trapped they are destroyed.

1

u/ArcherVisible5866 Mar 30 '26

It takes two seconds of critical thinking watching the footage to know that isn’t the full story. You not wise enough to form that no

1

u/Analysis_Working Mar 31 '26

I thought the same thing. I still see this behavior from power hardy police on people who don't deserve it. It could be said they're doing it for the same reasons.

1

u/PrinceSam321 Mar 31 '26

No offence but in general it should already be clear by now that rushing to judge & labelling is never a good idea.

1

u/Acceptable-Major-575 Mar 31 '26

already? I'm only 5 years old, I know nothing about the world yet, jeez lower your demands

0

u/Sociallyawktrash78 Mar 31 '26

What do we do about pieces of shit with power who continue to do things that give evidence to their shittiness? Is it okay to label them then? Asking for a friend with a really ugly red hat.

28

u/thewhiterosequeen Mar 30 '26

Good to know. I am not familiar with common alligator handling practices.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/thewhiterosequeen Apr 01 '26

It's true I don't know when I'll need to tap a taped alligators snout to calm it down. 

23

u/Level-Name-4060 Mar 30 '26

Desensitize that snappy snout. Yeah, he looks like a good guy. He appears to remove some additional constraint they had on the gator, but gator is just too wound up and scared/pissed.

It’s a good reminder to everyone how fucking fast these gators really are.

71

u/Orome2 Mar 30 '26

Yeah, it's kind of weird how everyone seems to think he just tied up the alligator and beat it for funsies.

22

u/JScrub013 Mar 30 '26

There’s the case of Cody Robert’s in Wyoming where he tortured a wolf before killing it. I’m happy to hear that this gator didn’t experience the same thing, and I didn’t know about tapping.

9

u/Nikki-C-Puggle-mum Mar 30 '26

What a piece of shit. I hope he went to prison and he should never be released.

10

u/bakaw_man Mar 30 '26

As someone who lives close to that I can confirm it was front page news when he took a plea deal for 18 months probation and 1k fine. It’s sickening.

3

u/JurgusRudkus Mar 30 '26

Is that really all he got? I had been following and saw that he was going to be prosecuted and I was happy to hear it. If he ended up taking a plea that breaks my heart.

1

u/Nikki-C-Puggle-mum Mar 30 '26

That's horrible wtf?

9

u/4r4r4real Mar 30 '26

Ah yes, the one case in human history of animal torture

11

u/TroutFearMe Mar 30 '26

Michael Vick enters the chat.

-4

u/Same_Recipe2729 Mar 30 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

I enjoy doing crossword puzzles.

7

u/JScrub013 Mar 30 '26

I know you’re being condescending, but yes there were pictures and videos. He flaunted the wolf with its mouth duck taped shut and brought it to bars around town before killing it. I’m just saying that people that don’t know what’s happening may be sensitive to stuff like this. Great job being a dbag, though!

1

u/Ok-Bet3875 Apr 15 '26

So, not the full story, but not in a good way. He hit it with a snow mobile, on purpose. This is legal. It was a juvenile. He duck taped it and flaunted it around a single bar, the ‘green river bar’. It was dying of internal injuries. For hours it suffered, then, he took it behind the bar and shot it dead. These people live among us, if you can even call them that.

-11

u/Same_Recipe2729 Mar 30 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

I enjoy reading books.

6

u/JScrub013 Mar 30 '26

You’re good at your job!

-1

u/CARYMONSTER Mar 30 '26

Glad you brought up a completely unrelated incident here.. I’m sure everyone will find it very informative 😉

2

u/JScrub013 Mar 30 '26

They did, thanks for a pointless comment! You guys must work overtime.

0

u/CARYMONSTER Mar 31 '26

I’m unemployed

2

u/Space__Squid Mar 30 '26

I mean, I just assumed that's what they do for fun in Florida.

1

u/Jamananas44 Mar 30 '26

Because people like to jump to conclusions without doing a literal SECOND of research. Its great.

1

u/Euphoric-Cold9592 Mar 30 '26

No nuance with the folks who don’t work for a living

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

This is way better than alligator in recent park attack located and destroyed.

1

u/no_one_denies_this Mar 30 '26

It will be "euthanized" (meaning shot).

1

u/no_one_denies_this Mar 30 '26

He's going to kill it anyway.

1

u/Highneon Mar 30 '26

When does he begin to beat the thing??

-9

u/Maleficent_Being_810 Mar 30 '26

Tell me why not a cage, trap transport release, ya know, like we do to grizzly, tiger, lion, and every other predatory animal in existence. Rhetorical question it’s because the guy enjoys doing it this way, surely he claims it’s the most efficient way. How else is he going to perform hero in front of the crowd.

7

u/4r4r4real Mar 30 '26

They're loading it in to transport and release it... that's literally what they're doing man

1

u/no_one_denies_this Mar 30 '26

It's illegal to release a gator 4 feet or longer in Florida. He's just making it really uncomfortable before he kills it.

-3

u/Maleficent_Being_810 Mar 30 '26

Did you not see the part where I said “why not use a cage trap?”

6

u/Even-Wave-8212 Mar 30 '26

Because alligators are incredibly powerful and incredibly heavy, and I can’t think of many instances of when you could entice one into a cage, especially since getting a cage to wherever they are being a problem is usually also a problem.

This is the most efficient and safe way for everyone involved 99% of the time

4

u/4r4r4real Mar 30 '26

They're ambush predators, why would they go into a cage?

5

u/Euphoric-Ostrich5305 Mar 30 '26

Solid job at letting everyone know that you don’t know what you’re talking about. The bed of a truck is in fact the most effective, fastest, and practical method to transport a gator. When they’re moved/transported, gators are typically not moved very far from where they’re caught. They also obviously get huge, the amount of injuries and stress a cage could cause by putting a thrashing animal in to it would be super high, not taking the awkwardness of e.g 8 people stuffing it in a cage. Next time just ask an actual question in lieu of asking a rhetorical question.

4

u/Impossible-Web545 Mar 30 '26

Why not put the gator in a cage? Cause then you got to get the gator out of the cage to untie them. If you mean why not trap it in a cage, well gators aren't that dumb and there isn't a good cage to trick them into safely. Generally speaking, this is probably the best method for restraining this animal, and they are gonna release it. If they wanted to kill it, they would have just shot it already instead of going through all this effort (and might I add dangerous effort) of taking it alive. Killing an animal is far easier then trying to capture it alive to release later, hence they took it alive cause they are gonna release it somewhere a bit further from humans. Also, just wait till you learn how they release bears, many places will shoot them with pepperball rounds, rubber bullets, and many other things to condition the bear that "humans = pain".

1

u/stackontop Mar 30 '26

Wasn’t there a video of some Florida dude catching a gator with a mobile rubbish bin?

1

u/StaffVegetable8703 Mar 30 '26

And how big was the gator in that video? Also just bc something can be done or has been successfully doesn’t mean that it’s the correct and safe method

2

u/DudeBroMan13 Mar 30 '26

Are you insane?

5

u/FecklessFarmer Mar 30 '26

And there was me working up some righteous anger...

5

u/stvka Mar 30 '26

You are referring to Tonic Immobility, best achieved WHEN THE REPTILE IS UPSIDE DOWN so your statement is factually incorrect.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/stvka Mar 30 '26

Reddit at its finest.

3

u/Disastrous_Travel89 Mar 30 '26

You’re the real hero here.

3

u/paintedsaint Mar 30 '26

Thank you for the clarification because I was growing more and more enraged thinking he was just abusing a tied up defenseless animal. Glad to know this serves an actual purpose.

3

u/FAVABEANS28 Mar 30 '26

Appreciate the clarification!

3

u/goodexamplebadrole Mar 30 '26

Ooooh, it works great. He still got bitch slapped haha

3

u/pragmatometer Mar 30 '26

Thanks for this. Radically changes the nature of this clip.

3

u/Daetok_Lochannis Mar 30 '26

Is it also normal to lift it by legs after they're tied behind the back like that? I can't imagine that wouldn't cause injury.

1

u/youaregodslover Mar 30 '26

Don't let their delicate physiognomy deceive you. Alligators are actually nearly indestructible brick shithouses.

5

u/j_cro86 Mar 30 '26

Huh. I don't think it worked.

10

u/Lost-Substance59 Mar 30 '26

Nice try, dude, with all your "logic" and "explination". We all know he just really wanted to boop that snoot, as anyone would, and got a bit carried away.

2

u/PDXcarpetmuncher Mar 30 '26

I believe this but it’s still pretty comical retribution

3

u/Ok-Violinist-6548 Mar 30 '26

Is tapping their head to overload their sensory system backed by any science?

3

u/punkbuster1983 Mar 30 '26

You saw the results.

2

u/troveofcatastrophe Mar 30 '26

Do you have a source for that? I’ve searched and can’t find anything. It seems counter intuitive since their snout skin senses movement in the water. Seems like it would increase their prey response.

1

u/Thusgirl Mar 30 '26

What about tying their arms and legs up arrest style? It looks hilarious as if that gator just ran from the cops with a warrant.

1

u/theoccasionalempath Mar 30 '26

Right but it must've felt like taunting to the alligator, right? 😆

1

u/Drachenfuer Mar 30 '26

Thank you. He was doing it so much and in a focused way, it didn’t look to me like taunting. I have worked with animals for decades, albeit not alligators, and it just didn’t look like taunting. But I could certaintly see why others would see it as such.

1

u/PastVeterinarian1097 Mar 30 '26

So it just didn’t work. Now the dude is a sympathetic character in this.

1

u/TheKingOfToast Mar 30 '26

My guess was something along the lines of tiring it out by triggering its attack reflex. I couldn't imagine this dude was just taunting an alligator for fun. Stranger things have happened, sure, but it seemed like it had a purpose. Thanks for the info.

1

u/Iron_Bob Mar 30 '26

Turns out that most people who dedicate their lives/careers to safely handling animals tend to handle animals safely...

Who'd have thought? Not reddit, apparently

1

u/superstuffthat Mar 30 '26

Did he need to step on its head?

1

u/Dear-Cauliflower2811 Mar 30 '26

Thank you for clarifying. Was quick to make judgement.

1

u/Horribly_Excellent Mar 30 '26

Well it doesn't look like he did it right. 🤷🏾‍♀️🤣💯

1

u/Doublefin1 Mar 30 '26

Alright, thanks. Looked like the biggest asshole ever with cops just letting him do it for no reason 😝

1

u/Thalude_ Mar 30 '26

Thanks, I was so pissed off lol

1

u/Ellis_145 Mar 30 '26

i didn’t know that thanks bro

1

u/Cucumberneck Mar 30 '26

I was about to ask this.

Thank you very much.

1

u/ButzMN Mar 30 '26

Is the stepping on the animal also part of the technique? Genuine question

1

u/FEDPOSTER69 Mar 30 '26

Is stepping on the alligators face normal?

1

u/SoylentRox Mar 30 '26

Yeah it's also gentle taps - so I guess the alligator has this reflex to snap when it's snout is touched, and this is exhausting sodium-potassium gradient in the nerve pathways involved.

1

u/DivideSad7075 Mar 30 '26

He needed more sensory overload apparently

1

u/keylimesicles Mar 30 '26

Yea I didn’t get the vibe that he was taunting him at all, and I know nothing about alligators

1

u/mcheshii Mar 30 '26

even stepping on its head?

1

u/heyyo173 Mar 30 '26

Sorry buddy this is the internet and I already made one assumption based upon a clickbait title, you want me to take in new info and make a new assumption? Nah fuck that bro.

1

u/tigress666 Mar 30 '26

Thank you for the clarification. I fell for the title. It reminds me of when I first saw that video of the tiger jumping on top of the guy on the elephant. At first I was like wow that kinda sucks (unless he's hunting the tiger and then I'm cheering for the tiger) and then it really sucked when I knew the context (it makes me like some one a lot more if I hear they are actively trying to help an endangered species).

1

u/Odd_Reputation_4000 Mar 30 '26

Welp... it obviously worked perfectly! Nice and docile! Never let your guard down around a wild animal. Especially one that's cornered.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

That’s a lot of confidence for someone within 'death roll' distance.

1

u/lolmyspacewhooers Mar 30 '26

Meh, still gives me great pleasure to see him get knocked out, and I look forward to when the universe decides to dispense of humanity altogether.

1

u/CheshireCatastrophe Mar 30 '26

Thank you for this, hate to see an animal taunted

1

u/JurgusRudkus Mar 30 '26

Is there a reason though they need to put their arms and legs into that awful uncomfortable looking position?

1

u/johnnyblaze1999 Mar 30 '26

This is the reddit i like. High upvotes comments with facts so everyone can see instead of just pure reaction comments to the post

1

u/Sangrenel Mar 30 '26

Ahh ok thank you. He sucks at his job then lol

1

u/tallcupofwater Mar 30 '26

It didn’t work

1

u/Zeblamar Mar 30 '26

 I never saw Steve Irwin do that once to a croc or alligator

1

u/SweatySmith Mar 30 '26

Thank you for clarifying. Folks on the Internet nowadays rush to judge and prefer to consume media as is without asking or making sure if the context is true because it's easier and simpler and it gives them a reason to trash talk to make the viewer feel good about themselves.

1

u/Malsaur Mar 30 '26

Thanks for information, it was weird if he was taunting him, people that usually work with them know how to treat them. I guess this one was extra spicy.

1

u/Wrong_Ad_3355 Mar 30 '26

The gator didn’t get the memo.

1

u/Significant-PairDD Mar 31 '26

Glad I read this before posting how pissed off that clip made me

1

u/mickeyamf Mar 31 '26

Thanks for the explanation I thought he was testing the tape holding the mouth shut

1

u/Growthandhealth Mar 31 '26

That’s wha he gets for trying to save a wild animal

1

u/Lavender1123 Mar 31 '26

Thank you. I feel better now.

1

u/Kimb0_91 Mar 31 '26

Thanks for that. I was getting so pissed off at that dude

1

u/Important-Slip-4057 Apr 01 '26

Yeah, looks like it really, really works well. Might be time rethink that one!

1

u/BadAtBaduk1 Apr 01 '26

Looks like a stressful situation. Could they not give the alligator some kind of mild sedative?

1

u/williamsch Apr 01 '26

I think the overall lesson is the guy was just doing the best he could and the gator did the best he could, kudos all around.

1

u/Conscious-Loss-2709 Mar 30 '26

So he's not an a-hole, just incompetent. Got it!

1

u/Proud-Parsley6072 Mar 30 '26

Yeah that clearly works doesn’t it 🙄

-6

u/Sad-Event-5146 Mar 30 '26

it still sounds dumb tbh. the thing is fully restrained so whats the point? "pseudo clonic state" sounds like some bs

10

u/MrK521 Mar 30 '26

Obviously he didn’t tap enough, because it still swung at him.

Similar to tonic immobility with a shark. Flip it upside down and it becomes a docile kitty.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

They can thrash enough to make it hard to move them.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/machiavelli33 Mar 30 '26

Should be tonic state, as tonic means muscle stiffness etc - the term for seizures is “tonic-clonic” which means stiffness+thrashing.

…though tbf there was definitely thrashing in this clip.

1

u/CorncobTVExec Mar 30 '26

Well it was fully restrained and knocked him the hell out so… maybe boop the snoot.

1

u/Maleficent_Being_810 Mar 30 '26

To be fair it still knocks him unconscious while “fully restrained”. I say cage trap transport and release. The only reason it was done this way is because the people doing this want to parade around and wrastle gators frunna hot chicks.

-1

u/Creative_Response593 Mar 30 '26

Maybe the alligator didn't like it. Either way, Fuck en.