8-foot gator surprises family on Mother's Day

A Florida family said they received a Mother's Day surprise when a large alligator turned up on their front porch. Alfonso Castaneda of Parkland said he awoke about 7 a.m. Sunday to find the large reptile on the porch of his family's home, WFOR-TV, Miami, reported Monday. "I got up to see what was going on," Castaneda said. "The first thing I see is this about 8-foot alligator, it was just staring at me right through the [glass] door and it just blew my mind. I called my mother, I called my wife, I called my son; everybody come look at it." Castaneda said he made sure to document the experience. "This is a once in a lifetime that you are going to see an alligator come knocking at your door at 7:00 in the morning," Castaneda said. "The first thing that I did was started taking pictures because I couldn't believe it. I wanted to make sure I got those pictures." Castaneda called removal service the Gator Boys and Paul Bedard, an alligator trapper with the Florida Wildlife Commission, secured the animal. "He's on land there's nowhere he could go. I was just concerned with getting him out of that area and not have him spin or bang his face up on the concrete, or break somebody's window," Bedard said. "Just real gently slid him out, get him onto the grass and after that point it's like an alligator wrestling show. Just spin him around a little bit until he gets tired. Jump on him, tape his mouth shut." The alligator was taken to Everglades Wildlife Park.