{"id":351510,"date":"2026-07-24T20:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351510\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:23:08","slug":"rite-of-passage-florida-deputy-wrangles-alligator-for-first-time-ever-video-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351510\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rite of passage:\u2019 Florida deputy wrangles alligator for first time ever, video shows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 One Florida deputy underwent a \u201crite of passage\u201d after he handled his first alligator call, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">In a release this week, the sheriff\u2019s office said that the deputy \u2014 who is originally from the northeast \u2014 was supplied with \u201ca leash, tape, patience, and some helpful citizens,\u201d which was everything he needed to get the reptile to safer waters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cNo matter the size, gators can be dangerous,\u201d the release reads. \u201cIf you find one in a situation where it could hurt others or itself, please call for help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Full body-camera video of the encounter can be watched at the top of this story.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 bTVksG\">Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 One Florida deputy underwent a \u201crite of passage\u201d after he handled his first alligator&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7863,6919,28,30,29,596,2546],"class_list":["post-351510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alligator","tag-features","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-strange-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}