(WBBH/CNN) – A Florida family’s Thanksgiving was interrupted by a nearly 9-foot-long alligator.
The reptile crawled up on the family’s front porch and caused quite the ruckus.
“He was hissing and swinging his tail around,” homeowner Chhaya Beharry said. “And I looked through the window and sure enough there’s a gigantic alligator and his tail was just smacking my door!”
Startling not just Beharry but other neighbors too who alerted her about the roaming reptile over Facebook.
“There was golf carts, and trucks full of people they just wanted to see the show but then I had to tell them to leave just in case anybody got hurt,” Beharry said.
Beharry’s fiance called FWC who showed up within minutes to remove the gator. But trapping it was tough.
“They were just trying to get him out but he was like rolling all the way through,” Beharry said.
As the trappers tried pulling the gator away, the reptile damaged multiple potted plants and part of the landscape.
“I’m like why my house?! Do you smell turkey?!,” she said.
The gator isn’t a first for the neighborhood.
“We got lakes out here,” she said. “So it’s like how Florida many lakes, like 3 of them? So you’ll see gators just pop up.”
But Florida many hope an encounter this close will be the last.
“You just gotta call the number. Get em’ out of here,” she said. “Just take caution with your animals, your children just don’t walk outside in the dark at night because that’s when they’re out!”
Of course, it is best to call the experts instead of trying to wrangle an alligator without the proper tools and training.
LATEST STORIES:
- Alabama Florida man walks 1,000 miles to Minneapolis in honor of George Floyd
- Florida coronavirus: More than 8,000 hospitalized with COVID-19 throughout state
- City of St. Petersburg utility non-payment fees, shutoff policies to resume
- Krispy Kreme celebrating birthday with BOGO deal Friday
- Coronavirus cases down in 15 to 34 age group but up in others, Hillsborough County data shows




