Hide Transcript Show Transcript

WEBVTT .WHITNEY?WHITNEY: I SPOKE TO THE WOMANWHO PUT THE BUNNY EARS ON THEGATOR.SHE SAID IT HAD ITS MOUTH TAPEDSHUT BY THE TRAPPER.SHE SAID SHE SPOTTED THEALLIGATOR ROAMING AROUND THENEIGHBORHOOD FOR WEEKS BUT SHEDECIDED TO CALL WHEN SHE SAW THEGATOR CLOSE TO HER TODDLER, BUTSHE DID NOT KNOW THAT THE GATORWAS GOING TO BE KILLED.THE WOMAN WHO TOOK THIS PICTURESAYS SHE THOUGHT IT WAS CUTE TBUT THAT WAS BEFORE SHE LEARNEDWHERE IT WOULD END UP.>> THE TRUTH IS WE WERE LIED TOAND SAID THIS GATOR WAS GOING TOGET RELOCATED AND IT WASN'T.IT WAS KILLED.WHITNEY: SHE SPOTTED THE GATORDURING AN EGG HUNT FOR HERTODDLER ON EASTER SUNDAY, SO SHECALLED A TRAPPER TO HER ROYALPALM BEACH HOME AND TOOK VIDEOOF THE CAPTURE.>> IF WE HAD KNOWN THATALLIGATOR WAS GOING TO BEKILLED, WE WOULD HAVE NEVER PUTBUNNY EARS ON IT.WE WOULD HAVE NEVER WENT OUTTHERE AND WATCHED THE WHOLEORDEAL.WHITNEY: FLORIDA WILDLIFEOFFICIALS SAY NUISANCE GATORSOVER FOUR FEET, LIKE THIS ONE,ARE TYPICALLY KILLED AND SOLDFOR THEIR HIDE AND MEAT.>> IT WAS JUST KIND OF SCARYBECAUSE WE WOULDN'T PLAY IN THEBACKYARD AND DO OUR EASTER EHUNT IN THE BACKYARD BECAUSE IDIDN'T WANT WHAT HAPPENED INORLANDO TO HAPPEN TO MYDAUGHTER, WHERE A GATOR COMESRUNNING OUT OF THE WATER ANDGRABS A TWO-YEAR-OLD AND PULLSIT IN.WHITNEY: FLORIDA FISH ANDWILDLIFE SAYS GATORS OVER FOURFEET LONG LIKE THIS ONE CANNOT

Advertisement Woman: Gator in bunny ears no laughing matter Woman who took photo now upset Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A Royal Palm Beach woman reported a nuisance alligator to Florida Fish and Wildlife on Easter Sunday but before a trapper hauled it away she snapped a photo of the tied up gator decked out in bunny ears. Now the picture is a morbid memento that the photographer wishes she had never taken. "The truth is we were lied to and and said this gator was going to be relocated and it wasn't," she said fighting back tears on Friday. "It was killed."She said she spotted the gator during a backyard egg hunt she arranged for her toddler."It was just kind of scary because we couldn't play in the back yard and do our Easter egg hunt in the backyard because I didn't want what happened in Orlando to happen to my daughter, where a gator comes running out of the water and grabs a 2-year-old and pulls it in," she said. >>Download WPBF 25 News App: Apple IOS | AndroidWith the image of the 2016 gator attack at Walt Disney World in her mind, she called a trapper who she claims told her the gator would be relocated because of its young age. "If we had known that alligator was going to be killed, we would have never put bunny ears on it. We would have never went out there and watched the whole ordeal," she said adding she believed the gator would be returned into the wild. According to Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Carollyn Parish the nearly 5 foot long gator was "processed".In a statement Parish explained, "In most cases, the alligator is processed for its hide and meat," by independent trappers who contract with FWC.According to the FWC report obtained by WPBF, the complaintant had spotted the recently deceased gator in the Crestwood neighborhood for weeks before reporting it.Photos: Wildlife photos on ulocalIn a statement Parish said relocation is rarely an option for alligators of this kind because, "Relocated alligators often try to return to their capture site and can create problems for people or other alligators along the way." Occasionally gators will wind up in a zoo or sanctuary but Parish said since nuisance gator removal is free the meat and hide collected by trappers (who are not state employees) is often, "the primary source of compensation for their services."