When Gators Knock: Alligator Attacks Man at Daytona Beach Home

Only in Florida, a man in Daytona Beach was attacked by an alligator after opening his front door. Yes, you read that right. A man was just minding his own business, when suddenly an alligator decided to drop by for a visit.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the man heard a noise at his front door and assumed it was someone looking for his son. But when he opened the door, he was met with the sight of a hungry alligator lunging at him. I mean, who needs a doorbell when you have an alligator?

The poor guy was bitten in the upper thigh, but thankfully his injuries were not life-threatening. I guess you could say he got off easy, considering he just played a game of "alligator roulette" and lived to tell the tale.

Now, I'm no alligator expert, but I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to be knocking on people's doors. Did this alligator miss the memo about social distancing? Maybe it just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar for its swamp cake.

When the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived on the scene, they found the alligator chilling by the front entrance to the house, like it owned the place. Fortunately, a trapper was called in to deal with the situation. And by deal with the situation, I mean euthanize the alligator.

It's a sad ending for the alligator. I guess it learned the hard way that you can't just go around biting people. Maybe it was just trying to make some new friends, or maybe it was just really hungry. Either way, this is one story that will go down in the history books as a prime example of Florida's unique wildlife encounters.

Florida has been for quite awhile, the epicenter of crazy. This video posted yesterday highlights that. A Florida alligator was about to secure a meal - when he became one. The egret barely flinches. Just watches it all go down. This video was recorded somewhere in Florida. Not exactly sure where but based on the poster of the video I'm guessing around Jacksonville. Check out the video. The smaller gator had no idea that he was not the hunter, but the hunted.

It may seem crazy to people outside of Florida, but gator cannibalism is normal. I've seen many videos from the Everglades of big alligators eating smaller alligators. They don't care. A meal is a meal. So when one Florida alligator takes out another, it's normal.

Here's my take. The egret saw the alligator coming for him but made no move to get away. I think he let this happen. I'm thinking the egret and the large alligator have a deal in place. The egret is acting as bait. When a predator approaches, he's focused on the kill and not paying full attention to his surroundings. The egret is a distraction so the big alligator can get a meal. The egret, in turn, gets protection from the big alligator. If the idea of animals teaming up on a hunt seems far fetched, you've never seen Jurassic Park.

For anyone thinking of moving here, yes, this is normal. Stick around in our state long enough and you'll see some crazy stuff. But an egret working with an alligator to act as bait? That one's new to me.