Knock, Knock. Who's There? Gator.

Critter at Florida man's door bites him when he opens it
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2023 3:01 AM CDT
Florida Man Opens Front Door, Finds Gator, Gets Attacked
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / GlobalP)

Hearing a bump at his door Saturday night and thinking someone might be looking for his son, a Florida man got up from watching TV with his wife and went to see who was there. Unfortunately, it was a 9-foot alligator, which promptly chomped down on his leg, WKMG reports. Scot Hollingsworth of Daytona Beach says he "stepped out while trying to reach the lights and barely got out the door and got my leg clamped on and (it) started shaking really violently." His first thought was that a dog must be attacking him: While gators are a common sight behind his house, he says they usually keep their distance.

"I suspect I surprised the alligator as much as he surprised me," Hollingsworth says. He was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury to his upper thigh, Fox 35 reports. A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trapper caught the gator and it was euthanized; the agency does not relocate "nuisance" gators because they often either fight with alligators in their new home or try to return to their old one. An expert explains to WKMG that as it gets closer to spring, alligator hormones "ramp up" and they become more active, so more gator-human run-ins are expected. (More Florida stories.)

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