Alligator attack front yard Florida

Florida Man Suffers Alligator Attack After Answering His Front Door

Thinking someone may be looking for his son, this Florida father was instead met with an alligator attack through his own front door.

As the Daytona Beach Police Department cites, the Central Florida man was bitten by the wild gator on the night of Saturday, March 4. He first heard a noise at his front door. Thinking it may be a friend of his son’s, the father investigated.

When he opened the door, “the alligator lunged and he was bitten in the upper thigh,” Orlando Sentinel reports. Thankfully, the alligator attack was over as quickly as it began after this initial bite.

The man’s injuries are non life-threatening, though startling regardless. He would receive transport for medical attention after emergency officials arrived to his home on Champions Drive, Daytona Beach (near the LPGA Intl. Golf Course).

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would also respond to the scene. “Officers located the animal near the front entrance to the residence and FWC responded to the scene where they called a trapper,” their report reads.

After analyzing the alligator’s behavior and attack, the trappers made the call to euthanize the wild animal. This may not seem ideal in light of ongoing American alligator conservation, but Florida’s FWC knows this species better than any other organization on the planet.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Deals with Constant Alligator Attacks, Booming Gator Population

As FWC cites, the state has a healthy and stable alligator population. “We have about 1.3 million alligators in Florida. Alligators live in all 67 counties, and they inhabit all wild areas of Florida that can support them,” officials explain on the FWC website.

In kind, “The removal of nuisance alligators does not have a significant impact on our state’s alligator population,” they add. Removal typically does not mean relocation in this context. Outright euthanizing is common. It is necessary for aggressive alligators that either refuse to leave or continually return to a populated area.

“Relocated alligators often try to return to their capture site. They can create problems for people or other alligators along the way. If an alligator successfully returns, capturing it again would be necessary and likely more difficult the second time,” FWC explains.

To avoid creating a problem at release sites, nuisance alligators would need relocation to remote areas where they would not encounter people. But these remote areas already have healthy alligator populations, FWC notes. The alligators that already live there would readily attack any introductions to their territory. American alligators establish territory, and aggressively protect it.

In short, “The introduction of a new alligator to these areas would likely cause fighting,” FWC says. Which, in turn, is likely to result in the death of a resident alligator or the introduced alligator regardless.