FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — An alligator decided to do a little bit of “window shopping” at a north Florida strip mall.
Denise Nichols-Gearhardt was working at a consignment and antiques store called “Junque in the Trunk” when she spotted the gator strolling just outside, Fox 13 reports.
The plaza has retention ponds on either side, and the gator appeared to be using the sidewalk as a shortcut to get from one pond to another.
Nichols-Gearhardt called Flagler Beach Police before recording video of the alligator, who at one point tapped its nose against the glass of a doughnut store.
“We joked that he was trying to get a doughnut,” she said.
Police helped keep people away as the gator made its way into the next pond. It’s not the first time alligators have been spotted moving between the two ponds, but this is the first time one decided to use the sidewalk.
Nichols-Gearhardt said she feels lucky to have spotted the reptile before it made its way into her shop.
“I had the door to the store open all day … If I wouldn’t have walked outside and saw him he probably would have ended up inside,” she said.
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