COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) — A Florida couple said an unwelcome scaly visitor made its way inside their garage.
Karyn and Jamie Dobson said they were watching TV in their Collier County home on Wednesday night when they heard what they thought was a car accident.
“The crash was so big, like wicked,” said Karyn.
Wicked and wild, as it turns out.
Jamie said he went to the garage to find out the cause of the racket.
“I open the garage door about a quarter way, peek my head in, and there’s the alligator,” he said.
The bewildered homeowner said he immediately slammed the garage door shut.
“Very quickly closed the door [and said], ‘Karyn, we have an alligator in our garage,’ something that, coming from the Midwest, we really haven’t experienced before,” he said.
Chicago, to be specific, so a gator in the garage was definitely a first for the couple.
“After I finished screaming, she goes, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,'” said Jamie.
“I said, ‘Come on, like, what are you talking about? Give me a break, you’re pulling a fast one,'” said Karyn.
The only fast one was the nearly 8-foot reptile, who appeared to be aware he’d been spotted.
The Dobsons said they made a quick call to Trapper Ray.
“We’re all standing up there like scaredy-cats,” said Karyn.
“[I] open the garage door, and the gator starts to back up. Its mouth is wide open at this point,” said Jamie.
Trapper Ray wrangled the gator, but when Ray left, there was quite the mess to clean up.
“We’re getting ready for a party. We have cases of soda and everything else,” said Karyn.
As it happens, that was the gator’s beverage of choice.
“There was Diet Coke spewing everywhere, because the gator was interested, tore open the box, had a few cans,” said Karyn. “Probably thought it was beer, maybe. I don’t know.”
What the Dobsons do know is that this wildlife encounter that was too close for comfort served as a reminder to always keep the garage closed so there aren’t any more wild surprises.
“People have sent me texts and emails, ‘gator girl,’ they have all these comments,” said Karyn. “‘Crikey, mate.’ ‘What a great birthday present, Karyn.'”
The alligator was taken from the home and relocated safely.
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