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8-foot alligator caught hanging out in homeowner's yard in Bloomingdale

Posted at 6:48 PM, May 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-04 20:36:08-04

"Aye, aye, aye," said Angelika Tifer from behind her DSLR camera.          

Maybe he was hungry? Maybe he just wanted to take a dip in the pool?

"All the sudden it started hissing at me and then it opened up its mouth and I went running,” said Bloomingdale homeowner Vincent Tifer.

Whatever the 8-foot alligator liked in Vincent Tifer’s backyard, he wasn’t very happy when two Hillsborough County Deputies and a licensed trapper, Robb Upthegrove, showed up.

The hissing, growling male is nicknamed the ‘Ghost Gator’ in the Hidden Forest neighborhood.  

"This is what the police tell us that there's been many phone calls on it,” said Tifer.

The huge gator’s been spotted multiple times over the past month but disappears quickly.

"He said they'd been hunting for him. You know, they live in a two and a half mile radius. He said they’ve been looking in this area because they haven't been able to find him,” explained Tifer.

The video Tifer’s wife shared with us is proof Florida living sometimes keeps you on your toes.

 

 

 

"You don't think it's going to happen in your backyard,” she said.

"That was it and the trapper told us he would have came through this screen," said Vincent Tifer.

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