COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) — One Collier County resident took a big risk to save an alligator who had a football stuck inside its mouth for hours.

Rick Green said he came up with a little plan Wednesday night to step in and save the gator from choking after seeing the alligator on his local Facebook page.

“I saw on our local Facebook page here for Ave Maria that someone had made a post about the alligator with the football stuck in his mouth,” Rick said. “So I came over here, and I thought, perhaps I might have a little plan.”

Cameras couldn’t catch a good glimpse of the gator at night, so Rick volunteered to check on it.

“If I could get close enough to it, I might be able to pop the football with a knife, deflate it so the gator could then just spit it out. Move on,” he said. “But I tried to get close to him, and he just wouldn’t let me anywhere close to him. So I told the wife about the plan, and she hated it.”

He rounded the corner with his flashlight, but then he reached down by the shore of the lake.

“Did he just grab something?”

“I’m thrilled! See all the bites on it.”

While his initial plan may not have worked, he managed to successfully get the football from the gator’s mouth.

“Right before you came, I saw, and he had it in his mouth.”

Before Rick freed the gator from the football, Florida Fish and Wildlife were contacted about the animal. The football is now in Rick’s possession.

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