FLORIDA — It was a pretty big catch.

“That head is about 15 pounds of calcium…” said Captain Phil Walters as he showed off the six-foot gator in his truck.

Walters has caught thousands of them in his three decades as a nuisance gator trapper.

“As trappers, we’re on call 24/7,” he said.

On Wednesday, he was called out to an apartment complex where an alligator was hanging out in a pond.

Walters got the permit two days ago from Florida Fish and Wildlife, which contracts trappers to do the dirty work.

“My wife always gives me grief, that, ‘Gee you’ve got the work hours of a doctor, but you get paid like a pauper,’” said Walters.

$30 per trap, to be exact.

“That’s not every alligator we chase. That’s not every call we make. It’s per alligator that we actually catch,” Walters explained.

His trip to the apartment complex on Wednesday netted him nothing.

“[It happens] all the time,” said Walters.

Between the time and gas money that is often wasted when the gator gets away, or the danger that comes with an actual catch, Walters says the legislature needs to step up and approve an increased budget for the FWC to pay nuisance trappers — even if it’s only enough to cover their costs.

“We’re providing a public service, conservation service to the people of Florida. You have the opportunity here to hurt yourself or get killed,” said Walters. “[We do it] because we love alligators. Ask any of the trappers that do this, we love the alligators!”

Right now there is funding to pay nuisance trappers $30 per catch for up to 7,000 gators a year.

When that funding runs out, the trappers get paid nothing.

FWC says it wants the legislature to approve a budget for up to 10,000 gators next year.