Alligators are aplenty in the United States.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of the Interior estimate there are three to four million "non-hatchling" alligators living in wetlands throughout the southeast — areas that include Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.
As alligators face habitat loss from wetland drainage and development, encounters with humans are virtually unavoidable.
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Add reptile exhibitions, varying pet ownership laws, trapping programs and water-based recreation — and alligator encounters, many of them surprising and strange, appear to be on the rise.
Here’s a quick look at some of the weirdest alligator encounters that have occurred in recent years, according to headlines and reports.
You have to read these (and see the photos) to believe them!
A man abandoned a three-foot juvenile alligator in a black storage container, which he left in an empty lot next to his New Jersey home after his parents forbid him from keeping the animal.
Now he and his parents are facing charges for falsifying a police report, according to the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MCSPCA).
The alligator was left in below-freezing temperatures, on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, in Neptune, New Jersey.
That led animal safety authorities to a search for the person or persons responsible.
The MCSPCA reports that the New Jersey Department of Fish & Wildlife will have regulatory charges brought on the man’s friend — the one who obtained the alligator from a reptile expo in Pennsylvania — for violating New Jersey’s prohibition on keeping dangerous exotic species as a pet.
A three-legged alligator crossing a road in Fort Myers, Florida, surprised a TikTok user who was on her way to an indoor golf venue in August 2022.
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Amanda Demuth, a resident of Cape Coral, Florida, told Fox News Digital she wasn’t shocked to see a gator outside — but she hadn’t expected to see one missing a limb, either.
The video Demuth recorded and shared on TikTok has been viewed more than 3.4 million times.
Commenters on TikTok expressed their sympathies and well wishes for the three-legged gator.
An unnamed 42-year-old American man was reportedly stopped at a German airport after authorities detected a three-foot-long alligator in his luggage in September 2022.
German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that security checkpoint officials at the Munich Airport recovered a live albino alligator from the man’s suitcase, which had been duct-taped and wrapped in plastic, according to photos released by the airport.
The man’s plane ticket was bound for Singapore.
German authorities have not confirmed whether the man’s unusual and dangerous transport method of the alligator was an animal-smuggling attempt, according to The Straits Times, an English-language Singaporean newspaper.
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The news outlet reported that rare animals fetch high prices in Singapore’s illegal animal trade.
Police officers in California found a small alligator in a man’s car during a traffic stop on Feb. 8, 2022.
The Anderson Police Department announced its officers stopped the man over a report they received about a suspected DUI.
The man was arrested for having an open warrant in Lassen County for a probation violation. He reportedly notified police during the arrest about the live alligator in his vehicle.
The man claimed he was caring for the gator on behalf of a friend.
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State animal control officers and a game warden from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife took possession of the alligator.
Criminal charges were brought against the driver for unlawful possession of an alligator.
A woman from Clearwater, Florida, was startled when a large male alligator crashed through her floor-to-ceiling kitchen window on May 31, 2019, at around 3:30 a.m., according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay and FOX 35 Orlando.
The alligator, which reportedly measured between 10 and 11 feet, thrashed around the woman’s condo, knocking down furniture and damaging walls.
The Clearwater Police Department and a professional alligator trapper captured and removed the alligator. No injuries were reported.
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However, the woman’s homeowner's insurance company denied her claim for repairs, which led locals to donate funds to cover the unexpected damages, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay.
In 2022, an emotional support alligator from Pennsylvania was in the running for "America’s Favorite Pet" with the America's Favorite Pet: Animal Kingdom competition, a voter-based popularity contest.
WallyGator, a 7-year-old reptile, which hails from the City of York, was a top contestant in his category during the competition’s first round in August 2022.
WallyGator’s contestant profile indicated the alligator reportedly offers emotional support for owner Joie Henney, who's been diagnosed with cancer.
The animal that went on to win America's Favorite Pet: Animal Kingdom was a 10-year-old capuchin monkey named Gaitlyn Rae.
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Winning the title earned Gaitlyn Rae a $10,000 prize and a two-page spread in the pages of InTouch Magazine.
A man who went tarpon fishing in the Everglades on May 8, 2021, was briefly chased by an alligator, and he shared the video he recorded of the close encounter.
Tommy Lee, the fisherman, estimated the alligator was about 11 feet in length.
The viral video shows that Lee tried to distance himself and scare the alligator away with noises, but the reptile followed him before it returned to a body of water nearby.
In a statement Lee provided to Viral Hog, a video content distributor, he wrote that he believes the alligator got within 10 feet of him on the forested trail where he fled.
An alligator was recovered from a mobile home park in West Texas on May 29, 2022, according to the Midland County Sheriff’s Office.
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The reptile was found hiding under a car by the time law enforcement arrived at the Airline Mobile Home and RV Park in Midland, Texas, following a citizen's tip.
Social media posts shared by the Midland County Sheriff’s Office said the law enforcement agency suspected the alligator could be a pet.
"We’re hoping a possible owner calls to claim our friend that’s obviously lost in the desert," the sheriff’s office wrote at the time.
Two alligators were stolen from a pet store in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in August 2020.
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A six-foot female alligator and a four-foot male alligator were reportedly taken from an enclosure at Pearce’s Pet Place in White Township, according to the Associated Press.
The owner of the pet shop suspected the theft happened sometime between 10 p.m. on Aug. 8 and 12 p.m. on Aug. 9.
The store owner claimed 12 screws were removed from the alligator enclosure, as Fox News Digital previously reported.
Pennsylvania State Police said they were actively investigating the theft at the time.
A Florida family made headlines in 2019 when they included their pet alligator in their balloon-popping gender reveal moment.
Stacie Childs-Wright and her husband Chad Wright of Pasco County invited their pet alligator Amos to pop a black balloon with his mouth.
The couple reportedly adopted Amos in 2000; Wright was a nuisance wildlife trapper with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission at the time of the gender reveal, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay.
The gender reveal was documented on video and shows the couple was due to welcome a baby girl, based on the pink powder that spread after Amos chomped on the balloon.
