When Mary got an unexpected house guest, she begged the police for help — and asked them to make it snappy…
I was watching daytime telly on the sofa when I heard the front door rattle.
With a sigh, I got to my feet.
All the houses on my street looked pretty similar.
It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d had someone try the wrong door since moving to the villa in Venice, Florida, three years earlier.
I wasn’t expecting anyone, so that’s what I assumed must have happened.
‘You’ve got the wrong…’ I started to explain, heading for the front door.
But as soon as I rounded the corner, I stopped dead.
Then I let out a huge gasp.
My screen door, which had been held shut by a metal clasp, had clearly been punched open — by an alligator.
A big alligator.
A big alligator which had already made it’s way into my house!
Alligators were really common in Florida.
Where I lived, they believed any body of water deeper than a puddle probably had one in it!
'I had to _c_roco-dial for help'
And there were a lot of ponds near my place…
Since moving to Florida, I’d occasionally seen gators on other people’s patios, in their gardens and even in their swimming pools.
But I’d never heard of one actually going into a house before.
My heart was banging in my chest and my hands were shaking.
How do I get rid of this thing? I thought.
I could hardly shoo it out, or put a glass over it like you would with a spider!
It quickly dawned on me that I needed to croco-dial for help.
And I needed to be snappy!
Trouble was, my phone was on the kitchen island about 10ft away — and that meant getting closer to the gator, who was standing stock-still, facing me.
Feeling like I had little choice, I took a deep breath and made a run for it, grabbing my phone before heading out the back and slamming the door shut.
Once safely on my covered patio I dialled the emergency services.
‘There’s an alligator in my house!’ I stammered, barely able to believe what I was saying.
The emergency operator was surprisingly calm as he responded.
‘Are you somewhere safe where it can’t get you?’ he asked first. ‘How big is it?’
That threw me for a moment — I hadn’t exactly stopped to get the measuring tape out.
‘Maybe 6-7ft?’ I replied, hazarding a guess.
‘You made the right call ringing us,’ he said. ‘Anything over 5ft is a public safety issue.’
I gave the operator my address and asked him to please hurry.
Then I had a nervous 20-minute wait, watching through the back window as the alligator moved further into the house .
By now, he’d taken a right turn and a left, ending up between the refrigerator and the island.
It felt like an age before I heard help arrive in the form of two Sarasota County Sheriffs and a lady from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
I met them out front to tell them what was going on, then they went to take a closer look at my scaly house invader.
'My house was just in his path'
‘He’s too big for me to handle by myself,’ the conservation lady said when she clocked him, eyes wide. ‘I’ll need to call for back-up!’
Soon, one of her colleagues from Fish and Wildlife had arrived on on the scene — along with a professional trapper.
The actual ‘eviction’ happened amazingly quickly after that.
The team went inside and one person jumped on the alligator’s back to pin him down, while someone else grabbed his snout and wrapped it with electrical tape so he couldn’t bite anyone.
Then they got nooses around his head and tail and carried him out.
It took 10 minutes tops, and they were all very calm and professional throughout.
I was relieved, as even though I could have been his dinner, I didn’t want my intruder to be harmed or distressed!
After the alligator had been put in the back of a van, I was told he’d be taken to a relocation pond.
I’m sure he’ll be much happier there than at mine, I thought.
Later, I learnt he’d turned out to be 7ft 11 in!
The experts reckoned he was probably trying to get to a pond behind my place — and my house was just in his path.
Other than claw scratches on the bottom of my cabinets — and a bit of muck to clear up on the kitchen rep-tiles — there was no permanent damage from my surprise home invasion.
But once people saw snaps of the snapper, the story made headlines worldwide.
I couldn’t believe the stir it caused!
Nowadays, I always lock the door, just in case.
They say never smile at a crocodile — and I don’t plan on having any more gators as house guests either!
Mary Hollenback, 66