CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A 71-year-old Florida man faces a criminal charge after allegedly lassoing a 9-foot alligator by its upper jaw and tying it to a handrail above a canal near Cape Canaveral Wednesday morning.
Robert Colin, 71, of Cape Canaveral, phoned authorities to the scene at 7:30 a.m. near West Central Boulevard and Oak Manor Drive, where he claimed to have spotted the gator tied up before leaving.
Colin informed News 6 reporter James Sparvero that he was joking.
According to a probable cause document, investigators discovered security footage from a facility operated by SpaceX that reportedly shows Colin using a nylon rope to make a loop that he used to “lasso” the alligator.
Colin’s objective was to capture and remove the alligator from the canal near the intersection, according to investigators, who highlighted that he is not a licensed trapper and does not have the necessary licensing or permissions to legally remove or attempt to remove an alligator.
The sheriff’s office official confirmed that the alligator was euthanized.
Colin was detained at his residence at about noon that day and charged with illegally killing, possessing, or trapping alligators. After posting a $2,500 bond and stepping out of jail, the Navy veteran informed Sparvero he used a clothesline to try to preserve the turtles in the canal, which he and others like feeding.
Colin claimed he had observed and reported alligators in the canal for three years.
“I tied a line here because I saw a snout coming out of this pipe,” Colin explained. “He hooked his upper jaw on it and he tried to take off, but it was already tied here.”
Colin stated that he then called the sheriff’s office so that wildlife officers could come out and remove the gator.
He claimed he never believed he was breaching the law. However, various regulations in Florida preserve alligators.
“This is a very public area, and they feed, of course, the turtles,” Colin told me. “So I decided to help out. “That was my intention.”