Florida man needed surgery after opening his front door to be attacked by 9ft alligator in the dark
Florida man opened his front door after hearing a strange noise and was attacked by an alligator lurking on his front porch
- Hollingsworth first thought he had been attacked by a dog outside his door
- Looking closer, he realized that a 9-foot alligator had been waiting outside
Florida’s Scott Hollingsworth found himself shocked and bleeding after a ten-foot-long alligator lunged at him outside his door on Saturday.
Hollingsworth said he opened the front door of his home on Champions Drive in Daytona Beach around 9:40 p.m. Saturday night after hearing a noise outside.
As he did so, he noticed that “something grabbed my leg and started shaking violently,” which he assumed was a dog.
After taking a closer look, he realized he had been attacked by a huge alligator, which he guessed was about “six feet or seven feet.”
He stepped back inside and closed the door to find a huge cut down the side of his leg, serious enough to require him to be taken to hospital where he underwent surgery.
Wildlife officials said the gator, later reported to be ten feet long, was eventually euthanized.
Scott Hollingsworth is pictured speaking after the ordeal that required him to have surgery
A large alligator captured here by New York City police in February 2023
Hollingsworth was lucky enough to get away with only non-life-threatening injuries.
He said: ‘Fortunately there is no damage to my knee, which I was worried about. Everything is OK.’
Hollingsworth did have plans to enjoy Daytona Bike Week. Maybe he should wait until next year.
“Probably won’t cycle fast.”
Officers later found the gator still in front of Hollingsworth’s house.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called an agency hunter who euthanized the animal.
Scott Hollingsworth was attacked outside his doorstep on the 1100 block of Champions Drive in Daytona Beach, pictured, on Florida’s east coast
Champions Drive is along Florida’s east coast, where a woman was attacked and killed by an alligator further south in St. Lucie last month
Two weeks ago, an 85-year-old woman from Fort Pierce, Florida, was attacked and killed by an alligator that had chased her from a pond near a retirement home in St. Lucie.
Serge died after being mauled by the 10ft gator while trying to free her dog, Trooper, from its jaws.
The dog was lucky to survive the attack. The alligator was later captured and euthanized.
Serge was the third victim killed by an alligator in the state since July 2022.