8-Foot Gator Surprises Family on Mother’s Day

Normally on Mother’s Day, you’d expect flowers to show up on your doorstep, not an 8-foot alligator.

--> But that’s exactly what happened to Alfonso Castaneda’s family from Parkland, Fla., as the wild gator made its way onto their front porch Sunday.

At first, Castaneda’s wife thought the gator was some kind of prank.

“She thought I was pulling one on her, but I definitely wasn’t,” Castaneda told local ABC News affiliate WPLG.

So Castaneda enlisted the help of animal trappers Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle, also known as Animal Planet’s “The Gator Boys,” to remove the alligator from the property.
The 8-footer, however, wasn’t going down without a fight.

--> After the gator snapped its teeth and squirmed around, Bedard was finally able to pull it by its tail off the porch and into the side yard, where the trappers eventually had to tape its jaw shut.

Before safely escorting the animal to Everglades Holiday Park for evaluation, they paused for moment to give it a kiss.
It was unclear how the animal made its way on to the family’s front porch.