10-foot gator traps woman inside home at Palms & Pines RV Park

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HENDRY COUNTY, Fla.- A 10 1/2 foot alligator was caught on camera, roaming through an RV park Wednesday afternoon.

Stacy Gonzalez first spotted the gator just feet from her front door at the Palms and Pines RV Park off State Road 29.

“Before I could even turn around and step back my dad’s calling me yelling, talking about ‘look outside your door, don’t open it though!'” said Gonzalez.

Trapped inside, she snapped a picture.

“I look outside and there’s a big gator, right here in front of my steps and I’m freaking out,” said Gonzalez.

Residents tell WINK News they’ve had gators come through before, but never one this big.

James Stewart tried to corral the gator with a rope before officials arrived and was nearly bitten.

“I just didn’t want him wandering off and taking off you know, and catch somebody or some little kid or dog or anything else,” said Stewart.

The gator eventually made its way under Gonzalez’s truck.

“I grabbed him by the tail, trying to hold him and pull him back, and he pulled me up under the truck until I got my head on the tailgate and I had to turn him loose. Then he come out on the side and went over there,” said Stewart.

“When you live in Florida, and you live out in the country, you have to be aware that we do have gators and hogs and bobcats and panthers that will come though the park,” said RV park owner Donna Hodges. “Everybody wanted to get a picture or a video because even though maybe they’re Floridians, they’ve never seen a gator that big.”

After more than an hour, the gator was finally captured and taken away by professional trappers.

No one was injured at the RV park. Florida Fish & Wildlife officials tell WINK News because the gator was considered a nuisance and was too big to safely relocate, they had to put it down.

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