"I thought it would come in through the window": alligator terrifies Florida family

A nearly two-and-a-half meter alligator appeared at the front door of a home in Palm Bay, Florida, early Friday morning, banging on the door with its tail and making growling sounds that woke the entire family before dawn.

The home security camera sent an automatic alert to the residents shortly before four in the morning, when the reptile was already in the front yard.

According to the report from CBS12, the animal was seven and a half feet long, approximately 2.3 meters.

Sierra Wynn, the owner of the home located near Malabar Road, described the moment as one of the most frightening of her life. 

"Her tail was banging against the door and the walls of the house, and it was a hissing and growling that was so guttural and deep, and it looked so aggressive," Wynn stated. "I thought it was going to come in through the window."

The reptile thrashed even more when the beam of a flashlight illuminated its eyes, at which point it opened its jaws and began to growl directly at the owner.

"We were scared. Terrified. At one moment, when it stirred with the flashlight in its eyes, it looked directly at me and began to open its mouth, growling and hissing," she recounted.

The Palm Bay police and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) responded to the residence and removed the animal without any reported injuries or property damage.

Wynn emphasized that technology was crucial in preventing a much worse outcome. "If we hadn't had the cameras and notifications regarding animals in the yard, who knows what would have happened. If I had opened the garage to take out the dog, or if I had gone out the front door, I wouldn't have known anything," he stated.

The incident adds to a series of encounters with alligators in residential areas of Florida during the current summer season.

Last week, a nearly three-meter-long alligator broke into the pool of a house in Sarasota County after tearing through the protective mesh.

At the end of June, a father leaped onto an alligator to save his 11-year-old son in Marion County, although the boy lost his right hand in the attack.

Florida is home to approximately 1.3 million American alligators distributed across its 67 counties, and encounters with residents increase during the summer months when the reptiles move beyond their natural habitats.