A huge alligator was finally killed after tormenting a Florida family for five years – thanks to the efforts of a friend who earned a special hunting license to end the 10-foot, 500-pound gator’s life with an arrow.
Craig and Chrissy Masse family got fed up with the alligator they’d named Albert when it lunged at Chrissy while she was mowing the lawn one day in their backyard in Port Charlotte, which sits on Florida’s southwest coast.
The alligator had gone after their two Labrador dogs and lunged at Chrissy while she was mowing the lawn – which was enough to prompt them to take action.
‘Chrissy was cutting the grass over there and he came right at her,’ Craig told NBC2.
A huge alligator was killed after tormenting a Florida family for years – thanks to the efforts of a friend who earned a special hunting license to end the huge gator’s life with an arrow. Above: Craig Masse, left, and his friends Ron Ollerenshaw and Chop
‘I was like we got to get him. I can’t have him. I don’t feel safe,’ Chrissy said. Above: Albert’s head, after being killed by the Masse’s friends with an arrow
‘We just see him all the time. He’s very aggressive,’ Chrissy said. ‘We have two Labradors. Those are my kids.’
Their friend, Ron Ollerenshaw, received his state alligator hunting license this year, and they were hopeful about being able to end Albert’s reign of terror.
‘I was like we got to get him. I can’t have him. I don’t feel safe,’ Chrissy said.
When the alligator wandered into the water near their property on Tuesday, they had their opportunity.
Chrissy Masse poses next to Albert, who won’t be threatening the Masse family or their two Labrador dogs anymore, after being killed on Tuesday
The gator was ten feet long and weighed 500 pounds. ‘I shot him a couple times with the arrows with a cord on it,’ Ollerenshaw, who is planning to keep the gator’s 40-pound head as a trophy, told NBC2
The fearsome creature was so large they had to use an excavator to pull it out of the water and into the back of a truck (above)
Ollerenshaw and another friend named Chop caught Albert with fishing lines and attempted to hold the gator in place.
‘I shot him a couple times with the arrows with a cord on it,’ Ollerenshaw, who is planning to keep the gator’s 40-pound head as a trophy, told NBC2.
The fearsome creature was so large they had to use an excavator to pull it out of the water and into the back of a truck.
Craig exclaimed: ‘Oh yeah! We got him, yeah!’
Chrissy said: ‘I wanted Albert gone. I was like so happy.’
Alligators, which can be found in all of Florida’s 67 counties, are federally protected as a threatened species. But people can apply for statewide alligator hunting permits that allow them to hunt and kill gators legally.
Although serious injuries from alligator attacks are rare, they do happen.
Last month, firefighter Juan Carlos La Verde, 34, was captured on video by a drone as he fought off a 12-foot alligator that attacked him as he swam in a lake near Tampa.
The experienced triathlete put his hands inside the alligator’s mouth, forced its jaws off his head and chest and swam back to the dock where he called 911 himself before being driven to hospital by a Good Samaritan bystander.
La Verde, a former U.S. Air Force Pararescueman, underwent an emergency six-hour surgery to repair damage to his skull and face, and to remove part of his skull from his brain, his family said on a GoFundMe set up to help with medical fees.
In his first interview since the mauling, which has left him without the right side of his skull, La Verde told ABC that as he took a stroke in the water ‘all I felt was scales, teeth’. He instinctively fought back.
Last month, firefighter Juan Carlos La Verde, 34, was captured on video by a drone as he fought off a 12-foot alligator that attacked him as he swam in a lake near Tampa
The triathlete put his hands inside the alligator’s mouth, forced its jaws off his head and chest and swam back to the dock where he called 911 himself before being driven to hospital by a Good Samaritan bystander
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