11-foot alligator removed from Florida back yard

May 29 (UPI) -- A gargantuan 11-foot alligator blamed for eating ducks in a Florida neighborhood was captured after wandering into a resident's back yard.

Neighbors in Orlando's Richmond Heights neighborhood said the gator was spotted Monday in the back yard of a property that backs up to a small lake.

The residents said they had requested the 11-foot, 3-inch alligator be trapped because they were concerned about local children and pets.

"My daughter and I sat on the porch last week and watched him eat a duck in the middle of the lake, so I know he's around here trying to find food so that's what he's doing," resident Annie Ferguson told WKMG-TV. "I'm glad they caught him. You know, I hate that he has to go but he's a big [gator] out here in this little lake."

Neighbor Tonya Walton got close enough to capture the alligator on her cellphone camera.

"I was nervous at first but then when I realized they had that trap, I was fine," Walton told WOFL-TV.

Residents said the alligator is not the first nuisance reptile removed from the lake.

"This is the second one. I came over here and saw the first one. He was a 14-footer," resident Linda Maye said. "Oh, my God, that's scary in a lake like this. This lake is not that large and in this neighborhood with kids, you know, he's eaten dogs before and ducks and stuff. Something needs to be done."

The trapper who took the alligator said it would be euthanized, as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rules do not allow gators larger than 4 feet to be relocated.