Last March, Tampa homeowner Jason Rogers woke up to the sound of a 7-foot-long, unruly alligator slamming its body into the side of his house. Two alligator trappers were sent to remove the gator, and their expertise and bravery made headlines. You could make headlines, too.

This morning, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission put out a call for contracted nuisance alligator trappers in Pinellas County.

Last year SNAP, the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program, received 14,739 complaints of nuisance alligators in the state of Florida, but only 8,139 resulted in the proper removal of the alligators. The demand for contracted, licensed nuisance alligator trappers grows — especially in the Tampa Bay area, as the heat of summer makes alligators more active and visible.

It’s a self-supplied, dirty job that requires your own equipment, whether it be a truck or boat, hooks or snares, and also for one to be “on call,” and ready to respond to a complaint that the Nuisance Alligator hotline can receive at any time. The FWC also stresses that applicants have another source of income beside nuisance alligator trapping, so don’t quit your day job.

The FWC gives a nuisance alligator trapper a small compensation for a trapped gator, but the other related source of income for trappers includes the marketing and selling of alligator products from nuisance alligators taken.

The FWC provides no information on how the alligator products are acquired.

So if you’re looking for an exciting summer side job, have no criminal history, have an active email, and have no problem encountering and trapping a four-foot or longer gator, apply to be a nuisance alligator trapper today. Applications are due May 29.

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This article appears in May 9-16, 2019.