A Florida woman was startled by a mysterious houseguest while driving in her neighborhood at night.
Kayla Ronquillo was heading through her Babcock Ranch community in Punta Gorda when she noticed something odd "climbing up the walls." It turned out to be an alligator scaling the side of someone's residence.
Ronquillo told Storyful that she immediately pulled out her phone to record the sight. The video shows the gator, whose exact size is unknown but was "freaking huge," according to Ronquillo, walking past the garage before making multiple attempts to climb the side of the house. After its first try failed, the gator gave it another go but couldn't hold its grip and fell, hitting its head on what appears to be a meter.
"Alligators climb over vegetation in the wild to get to their destinations," Lauren Claerbout, a spokesperson for the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), told Newsweek. "In this video, the alligator appears to be attempting to leave the area by climbing over whatever is in the way."
She added, "Any time an alligator is seen trying to climb up or over a man-made structure, it's attempting to navigate its surroundings."
Brian Jones, division manager of Charlotte County Animal Control, which oversees Punta Gorda, told Newsweek that gator incidents like this one are a "relatively rare occurrence" but could become more common as community development encroaches on the reptiles' habitats.
"Alligators are very common in our area, and anyone experiencing any problems or situations they consider dangerous involving an alligator should contact the Florida Wildlife Commission," Jones said. "They have jurisdiction over alligator removal and have the expertise and resources needed to perform this task. I know they are reluctant to remove alligators out of their natural habitat, but sometimes situations occur where they need to be removed."
Babcock Ranch is no stranger to such incidents. A 12-foot alligator was dragged out of a new home there in March 2022, according to Tampa TV channel WFLA. That gator reportedly entered the home through a laundry room door and caused about $2,500 worth of damage.
Gator sightings in Florida are nothing new, considering there are an estimated 1.25 million alligators across the state, according to the national conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife. About 5 million gators live in the Southeastern United States. Louisiana rivals Florida in terms of its gator population, as it's home to over 1 million of them.
Gator sightings on land are infrequent because of the reptiles' inability to move as swiftly as they can in marshes, swamps, rivers and lakes. However, they can move in quick spurts on land.
They are found in all 67 counties in Florida, which in recent years has experienced "tremendous human population growth," according to the FWC. As many residents seek waterfront homes and participate in water-related activities, interactions between humans and gators have become more prevalent, with "greater potential for conflict," the FWC says.
Gators can grow up to 800 pounds and 13 feet long on average, according to the Key West Aquarium. Males tend to be larger than females, and the largest gator ever recorded gator measured 17 feet, 5 inches, according to the Everglades National Park.
Gator attacks on humans, fatal or otherwise, are quite rare in Florida and usually result when some type of food or prey is involved or when humans enter gator-infested habitats.
Seven major gator bites and two minor bites occurred in 2021 in Florida, according to the FWC's most recent statistics. Major bites are considered those that require medical care to treat victims' injuries, while minor wounds are defined as superficial and require common only first aid treatment.
This past February, an 85-year-old woman from a St. Lucie County community, along Florida's East Coast, was found dead in a pond after authorities said she tried to rescue her dog from a gator, according to Treasure Coast Newspapers. The last reported gator-related death in the county was in 2019.
The FWC says the odds of a Floridian being seriously injured by an unprovoked gator is about 1 in 3.1 million.
Claerbout said that citizens can follow certain procedures to decrease the likelihood of gator interactions, including staying at a safe distance if one is seen and keeping pets on a leash and away from the water's edge.
"Never feed an alligator. It's illegal and dangerous," she said. "When fed, alligators can lose their natural wariness and instead learn to associate people with the availability of food. This can lead to dangerous circumstances for yourself and other people who could encounter the alligator in the future."
Public safety is monitored via the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program, which proactively addresses alligator threats in developed areas while conserving alligators in areas where they naturally occur. SNAP uses contracted nuisance alligator trappers statewide to remove alligators believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property.
Those concerned about gators for any reason can call the FWC's toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286.
Update 8/18/23, 9:35 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comments from Charlotte County Animal Control.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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