The place you never thought an alligator might end up
A woman was given the fright of her life when she checked to see who, or in her case, what was pounding on her door when she realised an 113-kilogram alligator was on her porch.
Geri Staples says she heard loud knocking on her front door on Tuesday morning in Merritt Island, Florida and after peering outside through some windows, she noticed the large reptile on her door step.
It was then the Florida woman realised she needed to get as far away from the deadly alligator as possible.
“I wasn’t sure, if he kept pounding like that, if he could actually open the door with his snout if he hit hard enough,” she explained to NBC Wash 2 reports.
“So, I wasn’t taking any chances.”
Staples says she fled to the upstairs area of her home, closing as many doors as she could.
While she fled, neighbours attempted to wrestle and trap the alligator but found it to be too violent and combative so turned to authorities, the United Press International reported.
An alligator trapper later came and shot the animal dead.
Florida is known for inhabiting the dangerous reptiles but Corey Larkam, a neighbour to Geri Staples told WKMG-TV the alligator was the largest he’d seen in Merritt Island.
“That’s the biggest gator that has been here in the last 20 years that we have seen,” Mr Larkam said.