Woman Calls Police Over Huge Alligator on Her Patio

A Michigan woman was shocked to find an alligator lurking on her patio before calling law-enforcement.

The woman, from Romulus, in Wayne County, informed officers of her predicament, the city's police department said on a Facebook post.

"Yes, uhm... I live over at ******** and there is a crocodile or an alligator on my back patio," she told officers over the phone. Skeptical, they asked her for a picture, which the woman sent through immediately.

"Well, I'll be," the officer said, after seeing that there was indeed a scaly reptile lurking outside the woman's door.

Officers were quickly dispatched to the property to remove the alligator. The 4 foot creature was taken from the apartment complex by a professional trapper and relocated to a new home.

"We don't know where it came from or how it got there," Deputy Chief Derran Shelby of Romulus Police Department told USA Today.

The reptile's mouth was bound shut before it was relocated, for the safety of officers, the trapper and the public.

Alligators are not native in Michigan, meaning there is no telling where the creature came from. The most likely scenario is that it is somebody's escaped pet. It is technically legal to own an alligator in the state. Michigan does not have laws that ban the sale or ownership of the reptiles, but individual cities may have their own rules.

Alligators can be a danger to the public, but usually only if they feel provoked or threatened. They are extremely territorial animals, meaning that, if they feel vulnerable, they may be more likely to lash out at people. This is why it is important to get wandering reptiles such as this one into a safe area, although alligators do not hunt or prey on humans.

"A common saying in police work is that officers have a front row seat to the greatest show on earth. When you start your workday, you never know what's going to happen. Because of this, police work is interesting, and officers get some pretty good stories," the Romulus Police Department said in a Facebook post.

It is not the first time somebody's exotic pet has escaped and caused havoc in local communities.

In June this year, a gigantic snake was found slithering across a roof of a Wisconsin house. The snake, which was kept as a pet by the homeowners, caused a scare among the community when it made its daring escape. The Barron County Sheriff's Department deputies were called to remove the snake from the roof.

Although the species of snake was not disclosed, it was widely believed to be a red-tail boa, which is native to Central and South America. Although the reptiles are not venomous, they can grow to lengths of up to 13 feet.

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