Dad's Quick Thinking Saves 4-Year-Old Daughter from Close Encounter with 12-Foot Alligator

A Texas dad sprung into action when an alligator got too close to his 4-year-old daughter.

Andrew Grande, from League City, Texas, spotted the reptile heading towards his young child when she was fishing and catching crabs with her brother and babysitter in a canal behind their home.

"When I first saw [the alligator], the only thing I was thinking of was just getting my daughter, just getting her out of the way, " he told CNN of the late-July incident. "What his intentions were, I'm not 100% sure, but I wasn't going to find out."

Grande said he ran out, picked up his daughter and threw her over their fence, while also getting his son and the babysitter to safety.

"He was by far the biggest one we've ever seen, and in fact, they have never done that before. Usually, they keep their distance, just pass by," he added of the nearly 12-foot-long, 600-pound animal. "You don't even know they're there, but this guy's intentions were definitely a little different."

"He was just so big that if he had jumped out he would have just broken the fence, he was just that heavy," Grande said, noting that the alligator continued to retreat and then return to waters outside the family's home for the next "20 or 30 minutes" after the family got to safety.

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Five hours after the initial encounter, an alligator hunter Grande called was able to capture the animal with the help of several other people. He was then relocated to Gator Country, a nearby adventure park and animal rescue center.

Grande said the park was happy to take the gator, as they lost many of their alligators when Hurricane Harvey hit Texas in 2017. At some point, the dad told CNN he plans to take his children to see the alligator they encountered in their own backyard.

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