HILLSBORO BEACH, Fla. – There was quite a bit of excitement in Hillsboro Beach on Monday due to an alligator doing some swimming along the shore.
It all started around 7:30 a.m. when the nearly 6-foot gator was spotted.
One of the people who first laid their eyes on it was Rich Loney, who lives at the Ocean Hillsboro Condos.
“The neighbor came over and he was walking his dog, and he said, ‘Hey, there’s an alligator on the beach,’ and I’m like, ‘No there’s not,’” Loney said. “So we go look, and we thought it was just seaweed, and we walked down there, and there was an alligator.”
How the large alligator got there is anyone’s guess.
“The waves would come in, and he would go back out to sea, and he’d be about 20 feet off shore, and then the waves would push him back in, and he’d crawl up in the sand,” Loney said.
Hillsboro Beach police kept watch until the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed up to remove the alligator from the surf.
“It took them a while. They worked on him for at least 45 minutes,” said witness Bob Ricca. “They tied him up and bound his jaw.”
Eventually, the gator was loaded up and hauled away.
“Hopefully they get him off to the Everglades, or someplace safe,” said Loney.
According to police, they were told by FWC that the gator would be relocated.
A spokesperson for the FWC said that the reptiles are rare, but not unheard-of, visitors to Florida beaches.
“While the American alligator prefers freshwater lakes and slow-moving rivers and their associated wetlands, they are seen in brackish water habitats occasionally,” Arielle Callender, an agency spokesperson said. “Alligators can swim in and tolerate saltwater for short period of time, but it is not their preferred habitat.”
The FWC urges residents who see a potential problem alligator to call its nuisance alligator hotline at 866-392-4286.