8-foot gator seeks shelter on man’s doorstep as hurricane nears Florida, sheriff says

Floridians are accustomed to hurricanes and alligators, but one homeowner faced both at once when an 8-foot gator showed up at his doorstep in advance of Hurricane Helene’s landfall.

The encounter happened around 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25, in the Lakeland area, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Lakeland is about a 35-mile drive northeast from Tampa.

Things started innocently enough, with the alligator “moseying through” several yards in the neighborhood, which isn’t surprising in Florida.

However, the gator then “got bold and went right up to someone’s front door,” the sheriff’s office said.

Standard practice in Florida is not to answer the door when an alligator knocks, so the man called the sheriff’s office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

A handful of deputies were sent to corral the alligator until an FWC-licensed trapper could get there, officials said.

The alligator was captured and hauled away. Its fate was not revealed.

The incident happened as Hurricane Helene was off Florida’s Gulf Coast, on a northward trajectory for the Panhandle.

“Damaging and life-threatening hurricane-force winds” are expected “well inland over portions of northern Florida,” according to the National Hurricane Center.

This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 8:43 AM with the headline "8-foot gator seeks shelter on man’s doorstep as hurricane nears Florida, sheriff says."