Alligator Catches HCC Brandon College Students Off Guard at The Regent

Jonathan Hickman was the first one to keep watch over the 5-foot alligator that wandered up to the entrance doors for the satellite location of the Brandon campus of Hillsborough Community College.

Hickman, a student at HCC at The Regent, and also a Veterans Affairs police officer, said he was approached by another student as he was entering the building, who asked: “Hey, what’s that by the door?”

“I said, ‘It’s a bike rack,’ ” Hickman said. “And she said, ‘No, what’s behind it.’ And that’s when I noticed it was an alligator.”

Indeed, it was.

“He did spin around pretty quickly when he saw me,” Hickman said. “This is not his first rodeo.”

Hickman kept watch until Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chris Davis arrived on the scene.

“Usually they see you and scat,” Davis said after he arrived on the scene. “It’s almost like he’s protecting something.”

Except there was nothing to protect in the immediate area, just a cement wall no more than 3 feet from the entrance doors to the lower level of HCC at The Regent, which houses six classrooms, including two computer labs, for use by the Brandon campus of .

Davis got a long pole and prodded the hind legs of the alligator, which was not to the reptile’s liking.

“He got a hold of the pole and tried to shake it out of my hands, he was angry,” Davis said. “He was thrashing about, you could hear him against the doors. He finally got tired of being poked and moved over there.”

“Over there” amounted to the mulch-filled flower beds directly in front of the lower-level doors, where the alligator blended into the surroundings.

“That was one stubborn gator,” Davis said.

Soon, John Wilson, of Nuisance Alligator Trap, arrived on the scene. His company, he said, is under contract with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to trap gators throughout the state.

How did he get into the line of work?

“A friend of mine who did it taught me how to do it,” he said. “You just learn, hands-on, and that’s it.”

Wilson explained that he used a “catch-pole system” to noose the alligator’s legs. “You let him roll out and thrash around and he’ll wear down,” Wilson said. “Then you get on him and tape him up.”

With his mouth taped shut and arms and legs taped as well, the alligator became immobilized. At 5-foot, the gator’s future was short-lived.

“Under state rules and regulations any gator 4-foot and over has to be put down,” Wilson said. “Any alligator under 4-foot is relocated.”

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RELATED COVERAGE:

• Living Among Alligators, Safety Tips, Facts To Keep in Mind

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