'Only in Florida:' Seven-foot alligator wriggles way into Venice woman's home
VENICE, Fla. - In the Grand Palm Community in Venice, Mary Hollenback heard banging on her front screen door at her house on March 28.
"I thought it was somebody else who didn’t live here trying to get into the wrong house," she told FOX 13.
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She wasn’t too concerned.
"I got off the couch and came around the door prepared to say you’re in the wrong place," she said.
Off Palatka Drive, she found an unwanted guest. It was a scaly one with a tail.
That’s when two thoughts came to her.
"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?" she said.
Grabbing her phone, Mary dialed 911.
"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 said.
The alligator made it from her hallway and appeared to get stuck in her kitchen.
It took a few Sarasota County Sheriff’s Deputies and officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to haul the 7’11 alligator away.
"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," said Hollenback.
If you’re wondering how the alligator got in, it pushed its way through Hollenback’s door.
"It’s just a magnet, but he was pushing on this and eventually just broke the magnetic connection and came through the door," she said.
It appears the gator didn’t have too far to travel. Hollenback thinks it came from a pond right across the street from her house.
"He had to go through two yards. Cross the street and come into my house, but nobody saw him, and it’s very surprising," she said.
Hollenback isn’t worried about any future visitors after getting the guest of a lifetime.
"Only in Florida are you going to get an alligator in the house," she said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told FOX 13 that the alligator was captured and transferred to an alligator farm.
