TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A massive alligator wandered onto a Florida interstate earlier this month, shutting down traffic for several hours.
The 12-foot, 463-pound gator wandered onto Interstate 10 about midnight June 3, causing temporary closures of the Monroe Street exit in Tallahassee.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the Florida Highway Patrol and police closed the exit to keep drivers away from the giant gator.
Vaughan Gators was called and eventually trapped the reptile.
"By the time I had gotten there, he had worked his way over to the guardrail," owner Broderick Vaughan told Local10.com, adding that the gator was "very much alive and unhappy."
Vaughan said he used his snare pole to get a hold of the gator and tape the mouth shut.
Because the gator had been injured after being struck in the snout by a semitruck -- Vaughan said the gator was "whacked in the head pretty good" -- he had to euthanize the big beast.
Vaughan said it wasn't the first gator he's had to remove from I-10.