11-foot alligator removed from under Jeep at Rotonda West home

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:

An alligator measuring more than 11 feet was found under a jeep late early Tuesday morning in Charlotte County.

FWC workers removed the gator from a Rotonda West home in Charlotte County.

An alligator measuring 11 feet, 2 inches with an attitude that didn’t like being moved. A homeowner in Oakland Hills in Tonda West saw the gator under their jeep and called for help. Charlotte County deputies along with Florida Fish and Wildlife came out to take him away.

But this isn’t the first gator neighbors have seen walking around the area. “It’s definitely scary, which is why we had a fence installed,” Mike Morford said. “Because we have young kids and we don’t want kids wandering or the water falling in. Morford is a homeowner in Oakland Hills Rotonda West.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home on Oakland Hills Place around 1 a.m. after the homeowner called about an alligator underneath their Jeep.

While putting up precautions make Morford feel safer, the gators nearby don’t scare Jeffery Brow. “As long as people leave them alone, they don’t bother people,” Brow said. But, hearing an alligator’s jaw slam shut can strike fear into just about anyone.

“They do get to a size where people get way too afraid of them,” Brow said. “And where they can do some danger or cause problems.”

FWC was called to assist in removing the 11 feet, 2 inches alligator, which bellowed and fought fiercely against them, knocking over the homeowner’s light pole in the process.

But as Floridians know, if there’s a body of water around, assume there’s a gator lurking below the surface. FWC removed the alligator from the neighborhood and transferred it to an alligator farm.

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