Texas woman wakes to find 8-foot alligator on back porch

March 18: A Texas woman said she was preparing to feed her cat in the early morning when she noticed an unwelcome prowler on her back porch: an 8-foot alligator.

Heather Tejeda said it was just after 6 a.m. Thursday when she noticed the alligator right outside the back door of her family’s Richmond home.

“You could see his tail through the door. I looked out the window, he was right up against the back wall,” Tejeda told KTRK-TV.

Tejeda said her husband had already left for work, so she called the Gator Squad wildlife removal service.

Gator Squad wrangler Christy Kroboth, known locally as the “Gator Girl,” soon arrived to wrestle the alligator into submission and load it into the back of her vehicle.

“This alligator could have easily got the homeowner when she walked out or one of her small kids or a family pet,” Kroboth said.

“Here’s the door, here is the gator’s mouth facing this way,” Kroboth told KHOU-TV. “If she would have gone out, she would’ve walked right into the gator’s mouth.”

Tejeda said the alligator was the second one removed from her property. She said the first incident involved a gator spotted at the end of her driveway in October.

The homeowner said she is strongly considering putting a fence around her yard.

Kroboth said the alligator was not injured during the capture and was relocated to a farm in El Campo. UPI