Alligator Wants to Become a Pet

Article by Ted Moore / eNews20.com

Apparently cats, dogs and parrots are not the only ones who have the right to benefit from a cozy home. Who says that alligators must not walk around a house? Maybe that’s what the 8-foot, 8-inch alligator weighing about 230 pounds was thinking when it entered Sandie Frosti’s house near Oldsmar.

The reptile was seen by Frosti walking around her kitchen. At first, she thought she was hallucinating, but after taking a second look she realized that her house was invaded by an enormous alligator. She immediately locked herself in her bedroom and called 911. As it was obvious, the operator also thought that this couldn’t be true and asked Frosti whether she was sure that the reptile was not an iguana.

"The lady thought I was crazy," Frosti said. Twenty minutes later, the sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene and saw the dark green alligator. It was only after about one hour that the animal trapper from Animal Capture came. It was quite hard to catch the alligator that had knocked over a few things in the 12-by-8-foot kitchen, including the cover to the garbage compactor and a heavy plate that fell from a counter and apparently left the creature injured and bleeding. Fortunately, nobody was injured.

Sandie realized that something was fishy after hearing some scratches from somewhere near the kitchen. "I thought that scratching sound was much too loud to be my cat," Frosti said. When she went in the kitchen she saw the alligator’s head. Apparently, the reptile broke through a porch screen, crossed about 10 feet to the open door and entered the house. It traipsed across the living room, through the dining room and into the kitchen. "The police told me it may have been interested in my cat," Frosti said. For a while Sandie didn’t even know whether her cat, Poe was all right or not. Finally, while waiting outside for the trapper to arrive, Frosti saw Poe hop on a piece of furniture in the living room.