A 77-year-old woman was woken up in the middle of the night by what she thought was an intruder – but instead found an 11ft alligator in her kitchen.
Mary Wischhusen heard a large crash at her home in Clearwater, Florida, at around 3.30am.
“I had this beautiful face staring at me as though he belonged there,” she told Spectrum News.
“[He was] just laying there. It’s like he made it all the way through the kitchen and he thought he was so smart.”
She said she went back to her bedroom to call the police and played games on her computer to calm herself down while she waited for help to arrive.
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“I was hyperventilating a little,” she said.
Ms Wischhusen wasn’t the only one to alert the authorities.
Moments earlier, Patricia Pecora had spotted the reptile in the street while she was delivering newspapers in the area.
Police officers arrived at the address and waited for an alligator trapper, who safely removed the animal from the house.
Clearwater Police released footage of the alligator thrashing around in the kitchen after it had knocked over and broken several bottles of red wine. They also released the audio of Ms Wischhusen’s phone call.
“I have a gigantic alligator who came in through my garage and is sitting in my kitchen. A huge one,” she said.
Asked by the call handler if it was in her house, she replied: “Yes, it’s huge!”
“The alligator did suffer minor cuts to a shoulder but the majority of the red liquid on the floor in the photos was wine,” the police force said.
“There was only one person home at the time of this incident and there were no injuries to the homeowner, trapper or officers.
“The alligator will be taken to a private location locally to rest and recover from what the trapper described as a traumatic experience for the gator.
“If the gator is deemed to be a good candidate for relocation, then the alligator will be taken to a private alligator farm in Fort Meade,” the force added.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
