PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – You know you’re from Florida when the sight of an alligator swimming in your pool on a Friday morning is what you call “a great start to your weekend.”
According to Fox 13, it all started when Tim Kelly heard growling while sipping his morning cup of coffee with his wife, Friday morning.
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That’s when he turned around to see a massive alligator, between 7 and 9 feet long, on the lanai of his Pinellas County home. He says the alligator had gotten stuck under an end table right next to the pool.
Tim Kelly had quite the surprise Friday morning when he heard growling while getting his morning cup of coffee. He turned around to see a massive alligator -- between 7 and 9 feet -- on the lanai of his Pinellas County home. https://t.co/FM79n76VPx
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) March 27, 2021
He told Fox 13, “He must have went through it and it got stuck on him, and he wasn’t very happy,” he says. “I got to tell you, when he was right there and he was stuck in that, I was like, ‘Wow, now what am I going to do?’”
He immediately called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Then, a very “Florida” moment occurred. As he and his wife waited for the FWC to arrive, the alligator was able to free himself from the coffee table and splashed right into the pool.
“We were just sitting here having coffee just watching him swim around in the pool,” he recalls. “He would come up here and rest on the steps, then sink to the bottom again.”
Once FWC officers arrived at the home, they were able to remove the alligator from the pool safely. They say they are planning on relocating the alligator due to its large size.
According to Kelly, he says it’s a morning wake-up call he won’t forget.
“It was unbelievable,” he says. “Good start to a Friday morning, good weekend starter, got us up, that’s for sure.”