A US army veteran who discovered a hissing alligator outside his house used a wheelie bin to corner and capture the reptile.

Eugene Bozzi, from Mount Dora in central Florida, was filmed sliding the upended bin towards the alligator as it slowly backed away.

He flipped the lid to trap the animal as it thrashed around, before heaving the bin upright and wheeling it away to the applause of neighbours.

Mr Bozzi, 26, then carefully negotiated a steep grass bank and pushed the bin over to set the gator free next to a lake.

He told the New York Post his daughter had alerted him to the creature wandering his property.

“My daughter was riding a bike, and she was like, ‘Hey, this big alligator just hissed at me!'” he said.

He added: “I went over there, and it was bigger than me. There were other peoples’ kids out there, also. Military instinct kicked in – and, you know, ‘protect at all costs.'”

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Florida is estimated to be home to more than a million alligators, with around five million in the southeastern US.

Earlier in September, human remains were found inside a 12ft alligator that is believed to have attacked a man in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana.

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