Watch: Cop Wrangles Gator on Doorstep

SARASOTA, FL — Folks with horror stories about unwanted holiday company may not be able to top one Sarasota family’s tale. It seems an alligator paid the family's front doorstep a visit and had no intention of leaving right away.

Not having it, the family called 911 and asked for help last Wednesday, Dec. 14. Luckily for the family, Sarasota Police Sgt. Bruce King happened to be close by and responded quickly to their home in the 3200 block of Tallywood Lane.

According to the police department, King was the perfect man for the job. He’s a former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission employee with “experience capturing gators,” the agency noted on Facebook.

While capturing alligators is old hat for King, he did notice something unusual about the reptile that had parked itself outside the family’s home. The critter had a taped snout and a tag on it from a trapper. The gator, as it turned out, had been loaded up into the trapper’s trailer recently, but someone broke into the trailer and stole the creature, the police department said.

See also: Florida Alligators: What You Need To Know

Just how the gator ended up on Tallywood Lane with its snout still taped remains unknown.

After the successful capture, King and Officer Justin Toler loaded the gator into King’s vehicle. The animal was then delivered to two FWC trappers, the agency noted.

The capture was recorded in action and posted to the police department's Facebook page.

“Gators or not, we’re always here if you need us,” the agency noted in its post.

While not every Floridian gets a knock on the door from an alligator, run-ins with the creatures are pretty common in the grand scheme of things. After all, Florida has an estimated 1.3 million alligators in its wild population.

“You are likely to find alligators in almost every body of freshwater in the state at some time or another,” said Gary Morse, FWC spokesman, in a previous interview. “Alligators also frequent brackish waters and are sometimes found in saltwater where they will remain for short periods.”

See also: Watch: Gator Strolls Through Florida Neighborhood

The first rule of living with gators or visiting a state where they are so abundant, Morse said, is to “never approach an alligator – appreciate it from a safe distance.”

Based on video released by the police department, that’s exactly what the family on Tallywood Lane did.

Since alligator encounters are fairly commonplace, the state has set up its own hotline to accept nuisance alligator calls. That number is 1-866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286). The state received 13,962 calls about nuisance alligators in 2015. A total of 7,513 alligators were removed as a result of those calls.

Photo and video courtesy of the Sarasota Police Department