Angry 6-foot alligator found hiding under man’s car in South Carolina, video shows
A South Carolina man says he woke up to find an alligator hiding under his car, and video shows the beast did not want to leave.
It happened early Thursday, May 23, on James Island, near Charleston, and Stephen Faulk says he recorded the gator to prove to his supervisors he had a legitimate reason for being late to work.
His video shows the alligator began hissing and lunged with its jaws open when a Charleston Animal Control officer tried to pull it out.
“Nothing like waking up to a 6 (foot) gator under your car!” Faulk posted on Facebook.
“We think he came from a pond about a half mile from here. ... I don’t want my kitties to become gator snacks.”
Faulk says neighbors alerted him to the alligator, including a Charleston public works employee who saw “it cross the road into our parking lot, and go under my car.”
This happened after the alligator tried and failed to climb a fence, he posted.
Animal control officers eventually pulled it out from under the car — head first, video shows.
It remained obstinate, even using the notorious alligator “death roll” as it was being dragged through the parking lot to a truck, video shows.
“He was getting pretty scuffed up. He got a little bloody, you know, they got to tire them out before they can actually get them into the truck bed,” Faulk told WCSC. “So when they thrash around a lot, they use up a lot of energy and it tires them out.”
Faulk works at a health care facility and says the capture was wrapped up in time to keep him from being late.
“My supervisors were very understanding and found the incident quite exciting,” he told McClatchy News.
He says he sympathizes with the alligator’s predicament, knowing robust development along the coast is crowding out wildlife. Alligators are native to James Island, which is about a 120-mile drive southeast from Columbia.
Alligator mating season is May through June and males are known to wander into unfamiliar turf in search of females, the state reports. Males can reach 14 feet in length and 1,000 pounds, experts say.
This story was originally published May 24, 2024 at 4:47 AM with the headline "Angry 6-foot alligator found hiding under man’s car in South Carolina, video shows."