STUART NEWS (Florida) 21 June 06 Vero Beach woman backs over gator in driveway (Sarah Grile)
Vero Beach: A routine trip to the store Tuesday afternoon turned out to be quite an alligator tale for Jean A. Miller.
She was backing out of her driveway shortly before noon when she said she felt a "clunk, clunk, clunk" underneath her 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser.
"At first I thought something was wrong with the engine," said Miller, who lives in the 2400 block of 20th Avenue. "So naturally, I got out to look."
Her assumption was way off.
Miller peered under her car and saw what she said looked like a large branch — until it moved. The "branch" was the tail of a 6-foot alligator. The tail, estimated to be at least 2 feet long, was wrapped around her driver's side front tire.
Miller couldn't believe her eyes.
"I even had my neighbor come over to see and make sure. I don't know what part I ran over. All I could see was the tail," she said. "All I kept saying was, 'Who do I call?' I was watching him and keeping an eye on him, naturally."
James Robertson, 20, verified the reptile was wedged under the vehicle. Robertson waited with Miller until police showed up.
"It didn't make any sounds or anything. It just kind of sat there under the car," he said, adding the alligator's head appeared to be near the back of the car. "This is the first time I have seen something like this before."
The unusual incident also was a first for Bruce Dangerfield, animal control officer for the Vero Beach Police Department.
He was able to tie it up and tape its mouth shut after capturing it with a noose. The alligator was then relinquished to a state-licensed trapper and will be destroyed. Licensed trappers are allowed to kill alligators if they lose their natural fear of humans or are deemed unsafe.
"I got the alligator around the mouth and sat on him," Dangerfield said. "He slapped his tail around a little bit, but that's about it."
He suspects the alligator's abnormal behavior of crawling underneath the vehicle may have had something to do with an injury in its mouth. Its bottom jaw showed signs of injury, which may have happened if it was hit by another vehicle in recent weeks, he said.
The alligator is suspected of crawling out of a steep canal across the road from Miller's home. Miller said she has seen small alligators in the adjacent canal, but has never seen one came out of it.
"There are no pools or anything around here so it had to have come from the canal," she said.
The incident didn't skew her view of alligators.
She said she respects alligators, snakes, spiders and bugs, and isn't afraid of them. However, she may look underneath her car before heading out again.
"I just hope there isn't the alligator's girlfriend out here somewhere," she said.
Residents in the 1600 block of Fifth Place said they saw a 5-foot alligator about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday walking in a front yard. However, it ended up walking back into a lake.
Although April usually is mating season for alligators, Dangerfield said alligators also are on the move right before and after spring.
Vero Beach woman backs over gator in driveway