By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-07-22 19:55:09 | Updated at 2026-07-27 12:41:14
4 days ago
A Florida family described the frightening moment they woke up to a massive 7–foot alligator at their front door.
The Palm Bay family was alerted to an animal in the yard around 4am after its tail kept hitting the front door, according to WESH.
Homeowner Sierra Wynn said the creature, which measured 7 feet and 6 inches long, was making 'such a deep guttural hiss and growl.'
Footage from the camera showed the gigantic gator sprawled outside the home near Malabar Road.
'He just looked so mean,' Wynn told the outlet, adding that she was 'terrified.'
Wynn said she was thankful for the cameras that notified her family whenever there were animals near their home.
'Who knows what would have happened?' she said. 'If I had opened the garage to let the dog out, or if I had opened the front door, I wouldn't have known.'
Wynn said that her Shih Tzu, Gracie, was just on the other side of the door when the alligator was spotted.
A Florida family was woken up around 4am by a massive alligator, which measured 7 feet and 6 inches long
Palm Bay homeowner Sierra Wynn said the alligator 'looked so mean' and began making a 'deep guttural hiss and growl' at her
The homeowner said that the encounter 'felt like a scene from a movie,' according to Florida Today.
'My first thought is that my little puppy is on the other side of the door, so I moved her to another room and closed the door,' Wynn told the outlet.
Wynn said that the large reptilian 'didn't even move' and instead appeared startled.
'It just growled at me and started hissing,' Wynn said.
Wynn subsequently called Palm Bay police, who told a contracted trapper about the alligator.
The alligator was eventually removed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
The creature was trapped and taken out of the neighborhood, though what happened afterwards was not immediately known.
The FWC has warned that relocated creatures often attempt to return to their capture site.
The massive gator, which never moved from the family's front yard, was eventually removed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Wynn said that the incident had made her mom comment, 'I hate where we live.'
But the homeowner, who moved to Palm Bay in 2005, insisted that spotting the enormous alligator, would not make her pack up.
'We're not going to move anywhere,' Wynn said.
Other locals in the area could still be in store for more alligator sightings.
'Mating season is coming to an end, but what we are seeing is that with low water levels the alligators are moving around quite a bit more,' Chad Weber, a FWC spokesperson, told the outlet.
Authorities have urged the public to avoid approaching alligators if they are spotted in residential areas.
Should that happen, they are asked to call law enforcement, who will then get in contact with the FWC to respond.
According to the FWC, there are about 1.3 million alligators in Florida. They live in all 67 of the state's counties.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the FWC for further comment.
