Florida: Man opens front door and is bitten by an alligator

A man who heard a noise and opened his door, thinking it was someone looking for his son, was in for a painful surprise.

As the man, who lives on Champions Drive in Daytona Beach, Fla., opened his front door, a creature pounced on him and bit his thigh.

“Walked outside and didn’t turn on the light and just took a step outside and something grabbed my leg and started shaking violently,” said the victim, Scott Hollingsworth, according to WESH.

Hollingsworth thought he had been attacked by a dog. However, he later discovered that it was an alligator, which he estimated to be “six or seven feet.”

‘I really haven’t looked at it closely. When I saw what it was, I went back inside and closed the door,” Hollingsworth said. “Looked down and I had a big laceration on the side of my leg. I tried to put pressure on it.’

Police responded to the incident on Saturday night and Hollingsworth was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery.

“Luckily my knee isn’t damaged, which I was worried about,” he said. ‘Everything is going well.’

Florida Fish and Wildlife caught the alligator that bit Hollingsworth and euthanized it. The reptile was about 9 feet long, animal welfare officials told his family.

Hollingsworth has had to put his plans to enjoy Daytona Bike Week on hold, admitting he “probably won’t be cycling that fast”.

His family has seen alligators in the pond behind their house, but it was their first encounter on their doorstep.

Hollingsworth told WKMG he likes animals — “but not that much.”

“It was a bit too close and personal for me,” he said.

The alligator bite came less than two weeks after an alligator killed a woman walking her dog at a senior citizens’ community in Fort Piece, Fla. A wildlife camera captured the terrifying moment when the alligator swooped out of the water towards the fleeing dog, dragging the 85-year-old woman underwater.

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