SARASOTA, Fla. (WSVN) — A Sarasota homeowner got a bit of a surprise after finding an 11-foot long alligator in his swimming pool.
“It was surreal,” said homeowner Rob Carver.
At first, Carver thought the noise could have been an intruder.
“I thought a two-legged intruder,” said Carver. “I turned on the lights and I looked out the bedroom window, and I saw something outside the lanai, and at first I thought it was a bobcat, and then looked at it again, and I go, ‘Oh my God, it’s a large alligator.’ Next thing I know, the gator comes right through the screen like it was butter.”
Photos and videos posted to Facebook by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s office show the gator swimming through the pool.
Ultimately, a trapper came and safely removed the reptile from the pool and neighborhood.
“Once the trapper put ropes and restraints on it, then it was thrashing around pretty good, splashing water out of the pool,” said Carver.
When gators this big are captured in residential areas, they can’t be returned to the wild. Some are harvested, and others are sent to alligator farms, exhibits or zoos.
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