Most Florida residents know they’re living in gator country. But it’s still a little unnerving when the reptiles get too close for comfort.
That’s what happened to Jensen Beach couple Jim and Karen Voorhees when they found an unexpected visitor in their backyard pool.
It all started around 8 a.m. Jim Voorhees said he heard a strange noise in his backyard. He said he took a look and didn’t see anything, so he didn’t think any more of it. That changed around 11 a.m.
“We saw something in the pool. I thought it was one of the big palm fronds, sometimes they break off and blow in the pool. I took a little closer look and it was an alligator,” said Jim Voorhees.
A nearly 7-foot alligator to be exact, taking a dip in Vorhees pool.
“I’ve gotten raccoons out of the pool and armadillos and snakes and frogs and turtles, but I wasn’t going to go after an alligator,” he said.
Voorhees immediately called the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, which in turn called a gator trapper.
The gator, however, didn’t go without putting up a fight, twisting, turning, and putting up a tense tussle with trappers. In the end, the snappy reptile was wrangled and removed.
Voorhees said his yard is fully fenced, making this gator’s entrance quite the mystery. Experts suspect it climbed the fence. One reason for that could be that it’s mating season. During this time of the year, alligators are searching for mates and that can take them places they don’t usually go.
