LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) – A trapper tried to find an aggressive alligator Wednesday after it darted out into traffic.
Sherese Walker’s daughter grabbed her cell phone and recorded some amazing video of the gator as it tried to cross Sleepy Hill Road in North Lakeland on Tuesday.
“I rolled my window down it was hissing really loud, opening his mouth, and launching at the car. We’re trying to get across the street but he was lunging at the car,” Walker told WFLA.
The video shows the gator in the grassy median. It appears to start to cross the road, then hesitates and walks across the median. It eventually crosses to the other side of the road while dodging vehicles.
Once the beast made it across the road, it vanished into a nearby wooded area.
Sherese Walker shared the video on the Lakeland Police Department Facebook page with the comment, “If anyone walks on Sleepy Hill, be careful.”
A trapper tried Wednesday to lure the gator out of the nearby water using recorded chirping sounds, but didn’t have any luck.
So why did the alligator cross the road? Some say it’s the weather.
“It’s been extremely hot, record-breaking temperatures all through July, and that will also bring out the alligators,” Lakeland Police Sgt. Gary Gross said.
According to FWC, the weather is also partially to blame for a spike in alligator attacks. So far there have been 16 bite incidents this year in Florida. That already equals the record set in 2001.
Neighbors were on edge Wednesday hearing the alligator was still on the loose.
The trapper told WFLA he would return again to hopefully capture it.
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