PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A Florida homeowner says he felt chills up his spine when a gator took a surprise swim in his pool.
Edward McClamma said he woke up at his home just outside of Jacksonville and saw the predator in the water so he called for help to get it out.
“And I look out the window and I see this shadow in the pool and I said ‘Well is that from a palm tree shadow?’ and I saw it move. I said ‘That’s not a palm tree shadow,” said Edward.
It definitely wasn’t a shadow. It was a 6-foot male alligator swimming in their pool floating, twisting and turning.
Video, taken by Edward and his family, shows the gator having a Sunday fun-day.
“I had chills running up my spine,” said Edward.
His daughter, Molly, shared how she first heard of the gator swimming in her pool.
“He said ‘You’re not going to believe this, come check out what’s in the pool,” said Molly. “And I look in my pool and I’m like ‘Oh what in the world?’”
After the shock of the visiting alligator, Edward called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help with this scaly intruder.
Within 45 minutes, FWC’s gator trapper arrived and took the alligator out of the pool.
Once they got the gator under control, the trapper gave the McClammas a quick lesson about the gator.
“These are musk glands. Males and females have musk glands,” said the FWC trapper.
The family also was able to hold the gator for some selfies.
“Out of nowhere, he was like ‘Hey, you want to hold gator?’ I was like ‘You know what? Sure. So I picked it up. It was really heavy,” said Molly.
The gator trapper told the family the gator probably didn’t have to travel far because it likely came from a lagoon across the street and walked onto his property.
“I’ve been here 35 years and that’s the first time I’ve seen a gator in my pool,” said Edward.
The gator was safely relocated to a refuge.
The family hopes they won’t get another unexpected visitor anytime soon.