A man in California was woken by an unexpected and entirely unwanted visitor who arrived at his door in the dead of night.
Vance, who lives in Ponchatoula, Los Angeles, shared footage with Ring from his doorbell camera in which he received visits from two surprise guests on the night of September 1, 2023.
The clip, which was subsequently passed on to Newsweek, shows the moment a fox first approached his home.
That, in itself, is nothing too out of the ordinary. California is home to a significant fox population with gray foxes among the most common.
However, it was the second surprise guest that had Vance sitting up out of bed: an alligator.
Vance had reason for feeling a little concerned. After all, according to a study published on the Florida Museum website, 4.3 percent of all alligator attacks have proven fatal. By comparison, just 1.5 percent of shark attacks have resulted in death.
Seeing one at his door was entirely unexpected too, despite where he lives. “This was our first residential gator sighting, which was surprising since we’ve never seen any in our neighborhood, even though we live near the swamps,” Vance said.
Ring
When Vance first received a notification on his phone that someone or something was near the door, he didn’t think much of it. He was half asleep at the time. Vance woke up pretty soon though once he realized what was going on.
“I looked at my phone and at first thought it was the neighbor’s cat walking up. While trying to focus due to just waking up, I thought it was a lizard,” he said. “It turned out to be a gator, and called out to my wife, ‘holy s*** there is a gator on the porch.'”
Thankfully, the alligator was soon on his way, leaving Vance with a video he was keen to share with everyone—including Ring. “I was shocked to see a gator at our front door and immediately shared the video with our neighbors, who were equally astonished,” he said.
Alligators have hit the headlines a few times over the years in California. Back in 2022, a man was pulled over in Anderson, North California, with a live alligator in his car. Then there’s Darth Gator, the alligator who was filmed in 2021 escaping from his enclosure during feeding time.
Another memorable gator encounter in California came during a 2021 drug bust when cops found themselves having to contend with a four-foot crocodile who was “submerged in a poorly secured tank with rancid water.”
In truth, it sounds like Vance got off pretty lightly but who knows? This might not be the last time he gets a visit from his friendly neighborhood alligator.
