Florida woman shocked to find nearly 8-foot alligator in her kitchen
If you can’t stand the gator, get out of the kitchen.
A Florida woman was shocked to receive an unwelcome visitor in her home – a 7-foot-11 alligator that made its way into her kitchen.
Mary Hollenback snapped photos of the gargantuan gator in her home in Venice — and they began circulating Sunday, when WINK Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt posted them on social media.
“This big guy in Venice got inside by pushing through a front screen door, into the kitchen, while she was in the living room,” he wrote.
Hollenback said she was watching TV when she heard the screen to her front door rattle.
“I thought somebody who didn’t live here was trying to come in, thinking that they were probably in the wrong house because that happens frequently,” she told WFLA.
“So by the time I got up and went near the front door, the gator was already inside,” Hollenback said, adding that her door has a magnetic closure.
“He was pushing through that and it broke the magnetic clasp. The door opened and he just came in,” she said.
“I probably got no further, no closer to the front door than you are right now. Just close enough to look and see that it wasn’t a person trying to get in — it was an alligator,” the woman recounted.
She said two things quickly came to mind.
“One is, ‘Oh my gosh, I have an alligator in my house,’ and number two is, ‘Oh my gosh, I have an alligator in my house — how am I going to get rid of him?” Hollenback told Fox 13.
She said she thought about calling 911, but her phone was sitting on a counter just inches away from the gator.
“So, I had to get a little bit closer to him, grabbed my phone,” she added.
“By that point, I was shaking so badly, I didn’t know who else to call. I don’t even think I could have looked up a phone number,” she told the outlet.
Two Sarasota County sheriff’s deputies and three members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission soon arrived.
“The one deputy was really pretty funny because he told me that when he saw the report, he didn’t believe me until he walked in the house and saw the gator,” Hollenback told WFLA.
“I have to say those guys were awesome. They were so calm, so cool, so professional. They just acted like alligator in the house … no big deal. Case closed,” Hollenback she told Fox 13.
She said she was initially rattled by the break-in, but has since come to appreciate the tale.
“I was relieved. I was kind of shaken for a while, but you know, it’s like all my neighbors came out and were all talking about it, and it’s just become a really good story since then,” she told the outlet.
“I mean, this story just keeps growing and growing. My 15 minutes of fame,” she joked.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the reptile has been transferred to an alligator farm.
Gator sightings will only increase as mating season is underway in the Sunshine State and males tend to become more aggressive.
“Only in Florida are you going to get an alligator in the house,” Hollenback said.
