Scarry surprise for Scot Hollingsworth, a Florida man, 56, Daytona Beach resident, after hearing a knock on the front door: on the other side, it was an alligator. “I jumped up and headed over and opened the door, 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,” he remembered. He was taken to hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. It is believed Florida is home for around 1.3 million alligators and some of them, 4 feet long or larger pose a threat creating problems. In this case (and in many others) the alligator was euthanized.
Sometimes, but rarely successful, the reptiles are relocated. Alligators split in America 53 million to about 65 million years ago. An average adult American alligator’s weight and length is 360 kg (790 lb) and 4 m (13 ft). The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana. In Florida, feeding wild alligators at any time is illegal. They can associate humans with food.
