ORLANDO – A U.S. Army veteran has gone viral this week after capturing an alligator in a trash can.
Eugene Bozzi is still protecting the people, only this time he’s saving a neighbor from an alligator.
Video captured by an onlooker shows Bozzi armed with a trash can which he uses to scoop up an alligator from his neighbors front yard in the Orlando area.
“I used the front like a hippo mouth,” Bozzi told USA Today of the trash can. “I saw that he was more timid and he was backing down, so that’s why I knew I had the advantage.”
Bozzi, who is from Philadelphia, said he didn’t know the procedures for capturing alligators so he “did it my own way.”
“Military instinct kicked in and, you know, ‘protect at all costs,’” Bozzi told Yahoo News.
Political strategist Steve Schale praised Bozzi on Twitter, calling him a “fine Florida Man” and shared a video of the veteran releasing the alligator back into the wild before retrieving his trash can.
Not only did this fine Florida Man return the alligator to the wild, he was environmentally conscious enough to get the trash can. https://t.co/I41TvB9Gvk
— Steve Schale 🇺🇸 (@steveschale) September 30, 2021
To report a nuisance alligator in Texas, contact your local game warden at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.