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11-foot alligator pulled from Florida family's pool

By Daniel Uria
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April 1 (UPI) -- Police in Florida pulled an 11-foot alligator out of a swimming pool after it decided to take a late night swim.

Sarasota County Sheriff's Office documented the encounter on Twitter after deputies found the large gator intruding on a family's property after midnight on Saturday.

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"The 11-foot intruder didn't gracefully make his way through an open door. He decided instead, to bust right through the screen," the sheriff's office wrote.

Video showed a trapper carefully capturing the gator and pulling it out of the pool as it flailed its body in an attempt to break free.

Homeowner Patricia Carver told WFLA the gator tore through her screened in porch to get inside and damaged the screen door frame while being dragged away, but commended the deputies and the trapper for their work.

"The deputies were wonderful. The trapper did his job too by making sure the public was safe," Carver said.

The sheriff's office didn't specify what happened to the gator after it was captured, but state wildlife officials consider alligators found in populated areas "nuisance" if they are longer than 4 feet, according to the Sun Sentinel.

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Such gators are typically euthanized instead of relocated, because they tend to return to the area where they were captured.

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