Florida officials remove 10-foot alligator from homeowner's pool

There's a common saying in Florida that you should always assume there's an alligator in every single body of water, and apparently that also includes enclosed pools.

Last night, officers with the New Smyrna Beach Police Department helped remove a large alligator that took decided to take a dip in an family's pool in Venetian Bay.

"Don’t let the angle fool you - he was approximately 10 feet long!" wrote the department on social media .

According to police, a trapper with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) helped remove the gator from the pool.

So what's next for this gator? Well, according to the FWC , the organization does not relocate "nuisance alligators" if they're over four feet in length, stating they may disrupt the social structures within their new territories or attempt to return to the area they were initially captured, and end up back in a pool.

In other words, this gator was likely relocated to the bootery or the deep fryer.

There are roughly 1.3 million alligators in the state of Florida, says FWC, and they can be found in all 67 counties. And, finding a scaly intruder in the pool isn't that uncommon, especially this time of year.

Florida is currently in the thick of alligator mating season, which runs from May to June depending on temperatures, says the FWC. This means gators are often spotted wandering around and looking for love in places they're not supposed to be ... like a pool.

Anyone concerned about an alligator, or if you find one in a place it shouldn't be, you can call the FWC's Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).

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