Vietnamese father in Texas wrestles alligator outside his home using tips from late Steve Irwin

On Tuesday morning, a Vietnamese father and restaurant owner in Missouri City, Texas, successfully wrestled an alligator using tips he learned from watching the late wildlife expert Steve Irwin.

While getting ready for work and his children’s first day of school, Mike Trinh discovered an alligator at the front of his home after his daughter alerted him of the animal.

“I woke up this morning groggy. I’m ready to just take my kids to school. It’s my daughter’s first day in middle school,” Trinh told Click2Houston. “So she runs back [and says], ‘Dad! There’s an alligator in the front door!’ I’m thinking she’s joking… not wanting to go to school. I say, ‘Just stop! We’re going to school today. Just stop.”

After walking to the front door, however, Trinh realized his daughter wasn’t bluffing.

In order to get his children to school as quickly and safely as possible, Trinh immediately recalled what Steve Irwin did on television when handling an alligator.

Recalling the many hours he had spent watching the iconic “Crocodile Hunter,” Trinh said, “You just know you got to put the towel over [the alligator’s] head. That’ll calm it down.”

Although Trinh called several authorities for help, none would answer as their facilities were not open.

With no other choice, he instructed his 19-year-old daughter to film the moment as he believed that “no one is going to believe me if I told them!”

In the video, after two failed attempts, Trinh succeeds on the third try and is able to place the towel over the alligator’s head.

After dropping his children off at school, Trinh returned home and taped the animal’s mouth shut with the help of his 19-year-old daughter. The father and his friend then loaded the alligator onto the back of his truck, removed the tape and released the animal into a nearby pond where they believe the alligator originally came from.

“Once we removed the tape. It didn’t do anything. It hissed… I crossed it off the list. I’m going to wrestle an alligator today,” Trinh was quoted as saying.

Featured Image via KPRC 2 Click2Houston

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