A North Carolina man just became the poster boy for home inspections after finding an eight-foot alligator in the attic of a house he was inspecting. The code enforcement official stumbled upon the giant while checking a home construction site and says that he nearly stepped on the prehistoric creature’s head by mistake.
Dean Brown, who found the gator, said he initially thought he was being pranked. Then, he quickly realized that this was a real sleeping gator, and he proceeded to tell the construction crew about the uninvited guest. Brown told Fox 35 Orlando:
“I thought it was a stuffed animal that someone threw up there as a joke. So I just went about my inspection.”
The giant was hanging out near the air conditioning unit, no doubt enjoying the indoor temperatures and resting. When Brown “was about 2-feet away from stepping on its head,” he heard breathing coming from the animal. Like a scene from a horror movie, Brown shined a flashlight on the gator, and it awoke from its slumber, opening its eyes to see who dared to disturb him. Brown told the contraction crew about the wildlife infiltrating the house, but he says they laughed at him and called him “crazy.”
911 was called, and the alligator was captured, although it remains a mystery how the animal found its way to the attic. Certainly, Brown just had one of the most unique inspections of his career.
The strength of these gators has been on display way too much for my liking recently, and the American Tribune has written about two other encounters in the last week. In one instance, a gator needed to get to the other side of a metal fence. Instead of doing what other creatures may do, going around or over or under, the gator simply went through bending the bars of the fence to make room for its body.
In another encounter, a gator snatched a family dog, prompting the owner to take drastic measures to save the pup. The owner wound up firing four gunshots into the head of the gator and saving the life of the family pet in the process.
While an alligator is not the first animal that one imagines when thinking about North Carolina, the animal is native to the state. According to NC Wildlife, Alligators can be seen reaching massive sizes in the state, despite it not being terribly far south:
“In NC, males can reach 13 feet and weigh up to 500 pounds or more. Females generally grow to less than 9 feet and weigh up to 200 pounds.”
PopSci offered some tips on how to remain safe when in the presence of the American alligator, saying:
“If you do see one (or several), keep your distance—at least 15 to 30 feet. While alligators aren’t typically aggressive, they will protect themselves or their nests if they feel threatened. Alligators can be active year-round, especially during warmer summer months and between dusk and dawn when they do most of their hunting, but you should be extra wary in June during nesting season when they will be protecting their eggs, and in the spring when mating season begins.”
"*" indicates required fields