To be completely transparent, as proud as I am to be from Philly and love the East Coast, every winter I contemplate packing up everything I own and moving to Florida. I am a future snowbird in the making. I love the climate of places like Florida and California, and I have expressed fantasies of moving to either state multiple times to my husband. Ever the realist, he always reminds me that although New Jersey, where we currently live, is cold, it doesn’t have routine earthquakes, house-flattening tornadoes, or extreme wildlife to contend with. And I’d bet my bottom dollar that one Florida mom would happily be taking Jersey’s frigid winters over the alligator brawl that recently happened on her front porch.
Kayla Burress originally thought the racket coming from her front porch was a burglar trying to enter her home.
The mom was floored when she realized what was actually going on just outside her Ave Maria home, the New York Post reported. Somehow, two giant alligators found themselves inside her screened-in porch, where her children typically play. “I never thought that the gators were going to enter my porch,” she told WINK.
There wasn’t much the mom could do but watch as the fearsome beasts tore apart the area.
They reportedly left behind a trail of blood and a ton of damage.
“It definitely looked like they were fighting over territory or something,” the mother detailed. “It wasn’t like a mating ritual that I had seen, because there was blood, and it had some hind quarters, like in its jaws, through the door.”
The most terrifying part, the mom said, is that the brawl occurred just steps away from where her baby was sleeping, so she is feeling pretty lucky things didn’t turn out worse for her and her family.
Burress is on a mission to make sure her neighbors are aware of what happened so they can keep themselves, their kids, and their small animals safe.
Wildlife experts spoke with WINK and explained that although the porch incident isn’t super common, the behavior itself is nothing new. A source named “Ranger Rob” told the outlet that if anyone observes aggressive behavior from alligators, they should absolutely never intervene, even to get them off of their property. This is especially common during their mating season, which is happening right now, and requires as much distance and space as possible from the creatures.
“They’re also going to be on edge because they think their life is at stake,” Ranger Rob told WINK. “So they’re going to do everything they can. So when you trap them, corner them, they’re going to show those they’re going to show defensive behaviors and aggressive behaviors.”
