This Viral Video Shows How a Florida Man Trapped an Alligator Inside of His Trash Can

You never know when a wild animal on the loose is going to choose your home as its next hangout spot. While squirrels, birds, rabbits, and deer typically won't cause any harm, we must remember that not all animals are as friendly. Remember when this raccoon jumped into a hammock with this man? Pretty scary, right?

Well, buckle up folks! We've got another scary animal tale and this one sure has teeth.

Florida native Abdul Gene Malik recently shared a video of himself catching an alligator inside of a black trash can to his Instagram account, @norfphilly_geno.

In the now-viral video, Abdul tries to get the alligator to go into the trash can. "I've got kids to protect," he wrote alongside the video.

In the background, onlookers can be heard screaming as the gator continues to chomp and hiss at Abdul.

Unfortunately, Abdul, who is an Army veteran, was not having much success with luring the beast into the trash can. But after some quick thinking, he came up with a brilliant idea.

In an attempt to throw the gator off, Abdul flips the trash can lid so it hits the gator in the face. The alligator appears to be temporarily stunned by the blow, which gives Abdul enough time to force the gator inside the receptacle and then stand it up. Talk about a power move!

The video was also shared on Twitter, where users could not get enough of Abdul's heroic deed. One user pointed out Abdul's choice of shoe. "My brother did this in flip flops. IN. FLIP. FLOPS," he tweeted. Another user joked, "Next time my husband complains about taking out the trash I’ll show him this."

While we're glad to see no one was hurt, not all gators are as tame. In Aug. 2021, an alligator handler in Utah was attacked by the gator she was taking care of. According to TMZ, the handler, who worked at Scales and Tails Utah, was showing the gator to visitors of the zoo when it chomped down on her hand and barrel-rolled her.

Fortunately, two brave zoo guests were able to rescue her from the alligator's grip.

I think our takeaway from all of this is to be wary of all alligators, even if you're trained to take care of them. Also, trash cans make great makeshift traps!