# I hear you knocking, but you can't come in.



## rapmarks (Mar 24, 2006)

a 7 foot, 7 inch alligator came up to a private home in Bonita Springs and kept head butting the door.  luckily, the owner looked out the window before opening the door.  The alligator tried for more than an hour to get inside and left blood on the garage door and the front door.  It finally gave up and bolted for the nearby lake.  The woman had just returned home from a walk with Trooper, an English cocker spaniel.  It sounds like the alligator thought that doggy would be a real treat.


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## Jimster (Mar 24, 2006)

*gator*

In a similar vein, I was vacationing at Jeykl Island and was on the golf course.  A woman had a little poodle and he was running around the gator that was situated on the bank by the pond yapping at it.  The owner of the poodle thought it was so funny that her little "Sissy" was doing this to this big slow moving gator that was out of the water.   When suddenly the gator swung its tail at the dog that had approached too closely launching the dog into the water.  Well, you can guess what happened next.  It was not a pretty sight.


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## vic714 (Mar 24, 2006)

Jimster said:
			
		

> Well, you can guess what happened next.  It was not a pretty sight.


but it made a pretty funny story  

Victor


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## JLB (Mar 24, 2006)

And who measured it?     



			
				rapmarks said:
			
		

> a 7 foot, 7 inch alligator came up to a private home in Bonita Springs and kept head butting the door.


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## KenK (Mar 24, 2006)

Seems to be getting larger....in Tampa, its now 8 feet:

CBS


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## BevL (Mar 24, 2006)

Jimster said:
			
		

> In a similar vein, I was vacationing at Jeykl Island and was on the golf course.  A woman had a little poodle and he was running around the gator that was situated on the bank by the pond yapping at it.  The owner of the poodle thought it was so funny that her little "Sissy" was doing this to this big slow moving gator that was out of the water.   When suddenly the gator swung its tail at the dog that had approached too closely launching the dog into the water.  Well, you can guess what happened next.  It was not a pretty sight.




I hope she doesn't have any kids!!!


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## Jimster (Mar 24, 2006)

*Kids*

Well she was alone when it happened, but she was about 60 years old so I suspect the kids, if any, were already grown.  I will tell you she was extremely distraught.  To allow this to happen though, I put in the category of the "just what were you thinking award".  Certainly, anyone from that area should have known better, but then I don't know if she was a resident.  Then again, maybe I qualified for the same award because on the first occasion I was there, I went into the brush to get my golf ball.  Later I was advised that this was a pretty stupid thing to do in light of the snakes in the area.


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## JoAnn (Mar 24, 2006)

JLB said:
			
		

> And who measured it?



The alligator was caught by the Florida Fish and Wildlife people.  This is the article from this morning's News-Press:  


*Gator comes knocking at home
By Mark Krzos 
Originally posted on March 24, 2006*
CONTACT


Lori Pachelli of Bonita Springs has had more than her share of encounters with dangerous wildlife.

When the former Philadelphia resident was growing up, a large bear approached the cabin where she and her parents were vacationing.

On Tuesday, a 7-foot, 7-inch alligator came up to her home inside the gated Vasari community near the Collier County line. Like the bear, the alligator was looking for food. But unlike the bear that was scared off by the clanging of some pots and pans, the alligator refused to move away from her front door — even after a crowd of about 30 gathered to witness the sight. 

According to her husband, Michael, Lori just completed a midafternoon walk with the couple's dog, Trooper, an English cocker spaniel. Minutes later, she heard a loud banging.

"She looked out the front window and didn't see anything," said Michael Pachelli, whose only close encounter with wildlife had been dodging deer in the suburbs of Philly. "Then she heard it again and went to the front door." 

Looking out the sidelights, Lori saw the culprit — an alligator thrashing against the door.

"I was driving at the time and she called me. She didn't know what to do," said Michael Pachelli. "She was hysterical."

While trying to get home to his wife, Pachelli called Jim Ulczycki, a superintendent for Taylor Woodrow Homes. 

"It was right around 1:30 p.m.," said Ulczycki, who was the first on the scene. "Eventually everyone got word that there was an alligator here."

With a crowd gathering in front of the Pachelli home and calls made to Florida Fish and Wildlife, Michael arrived and saw why his wife was freaked. 

"It was big," he said. "It was trying to get inside in an aggressive, fierce way."

Small blood stains from the alligator's snout are still visible on the garage and front door.

"The alligator stayed on the Pachelli's front porch for more than an hour," said Ulczycki, who now refers to Pachelli as Crocodile Dundee. "He eventually got spooked and ran into the lake. This was easily the biggest news that's happened here since we opened." 

Once the alligator bolted to the lake, Ulczycki and Vasari property manager Wayne Stewart followed, never losing sight of the behemoth.

"It took the trappers about a half-hour to get him," Pachelli said. 

Linda Collins, alligator call center supervisor, said the alligator would be killed and used for human consumption.

"Its hide could be used for various things like pocketbooks and shoes," Collins said. "It's not wasted. It's used."

Relocation wasn't an option. 

"He was banging his head against their front door," said Collins, who fields nuisance alligator calls throughout the state. "That's considered a nuisance alligator."

Two days after the incident, Pachelli doesn't feel much of a sense of loss for the animal. 

"I feel bad because it had to come to this. Someone may have been feeding it and that's why it had to be killed," he said. "But I don't want to see me or my family jeopardized by a wild animal."


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