Posted on 06/07/2006 4:08:24 PM PDT by SquirrelKing
Guess who's coming to dinner? Couple shun scaly visitor BY BEN CRITES, The Island Packet Published Wednesday, June 7, 2006
SUN CITY HILTON HEAD -- Use the peephole. You never know who -- or what -- will knock on your front door.
Photo: A 6-foot-long alligator climbs within inches of the doorbell after knocking into the front door of Roslyn and Robert Loretta's home on Penny Creek Drive in Sun City Hilton Head on Friday night. The reptile apparently was enticed into the couple's yard by the smell of teriyaki chicken.
Richard Holinski/Special to the Packet
For the Lorettas, it was a big "what" that came a knockin' at their Sun City Hilton Head home Friday night.
A 6-foot-long alligator pounded on the front door of their Penny Creek Drive home at around 7:45 p.m. and started scaling the wall at the entryway -- its front left claw inches from the doorbell.
"It looked like he was going to ring the doorbell," said Roslyn Loretta, describing the scene from her viewpoint behind the door. "This alligator was aggressive. It really left me a little shaken afterward."
Loretta blames teriyaki chicken for the unexpected visit.
She and her husband, Robert, were barbecuing on the screened-in porch behind their home when they first noticed the reptile. It was facing them on the banks of a lagoon, its eyes focused on them and its mouth wide open.
"It was smelling the food, I guess," Roslyn Loretta said.
While eating dinner inside, the Lorettas noticed the gator had crept to the side of their house. Minutes later, it was lying by a mailbox across the street and was all the hubbub among the neighbors.
About 10 of them were in the street watching it, some snapping pictures. The crowd appeared to spook the gator, which ran across the street and into the garage of the Lorettas' home and then to their front door.
"If he had turned around, I'd be gone in a hurry," said Richard Holinski, a resident of the same street who snapped a photograph of the alligator with a telephoto lens from about 30 feet away.
Holinski said that soon after, the gator scampered to the side of the house and took off "like a rocket" back into the lagoon. It was gone by the time Sun City security arrived.
"You get oddball behavior from alligators this time of year when it's dry and fresh water is at a premium," said Dean Harrigal, a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Natural Resources. "Certainly the smell (of teriyaki chicken) had something to do with it."
The Lorettas had to clean up some dirt and scales left on their front door.
"I'm just glad he's gone," Robert Loretta said.
Click HERE for Hi-res.
Pingaroo for the listiepoos.
ping
"Candygram!"
Sidney Poitier?
Well, heck. Just one more for the BBQ.
Ashton Kutcher?
LOL - "Whew! It's just a deadly, hungry, cold-blooded alligator. I thought your mother was here..."
---when i'm not expecting company, i usually answer with my glock holstered behind my back where i can get at it asap...
You never know who'll come a knockin ! usually I figure it's the Big Bad Wolf ;)
And what was left at the house after the surprise visit? Ripped tiles. (Slow day).
Who knew that alligators like teriyaki? Maybe they should try some curry next time and maybe the alligator will think that he's too far north.
Just another case of "a reptile dysfunction".
*groan* ;)
AAARGH! LOL!
Wasn’t last year the Year of the Shark Attack? This must be The Year of the Gater. I wonder how often this kind of thing really happens?
I live in Maryland but just to be on the safe side, I’m removing teriyaki chicken from my menu.
I like warm weather and SC and the golf when I visted, but yikes! In Baltimore I have only to fear the occasional rabid squirrel, or bat, or fox, or drug addled gang banger in a drive by, or Mayor O’Malley and ultra liberal state legislature …heck maybe I’m better off with the occasional alligator and hurricane. Too close to call.
Oh . . . my . . . Gawd.
Seeing that thing try to get in my front door would have given me a heart attack. Those door windows aren't THAT strong.
Knock knock.
Who's there?
(silence)
WHO'S THERE?
(silence)
(opens door out of curiosity)
AAAUUGGGHJAWSUUUUUAAAHSNAPSNAPOhMyGodOhMyGODCHEW CHEW CHEW CHEWLORD HELP ME I'M BEING EATEN ALIVECHOMP CHOMP CHOMPAAAUUUUUUUUUGHGGHHHHHHGHHBONES SNAPPINGAAAUUUUUUUGHHG HEAVEN HELP ME HEEEELLLPPPP
Think theres enough there for a nice pair of boots and a vest ?
*rimshot*
ROFL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.