SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. (WANE via STORYFUL) – A 12.5-ft alligator was captured and removed from a creekside path in Florida’s Tampa Bay area frequented by schoolchildren, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office said deputies found the “absolute dinosaur” walking alongside Saint Joe’s Creek in Saint Petersburg after a caller reported the animal.

“Stay! I said stay … That’s a good boy,” a responding officer is heard telling the alligator on Tuesday, May 14, in body-worn camera footage released by the department.

Trappers contracted by Florida wildlife control authorities are seen duct-taping the gator’s jaws shut, with the help of “fearful but willing” deputies, before the animal was relocated.

“Remember this is Florida – if there’s a body of water, chances are good that an alligator is nearby,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.