When you think of the American state of Florida you think of beaches, sunshine, and alligators. Not many people would swim in a random pond or lake in this environment that’s a productive habitat for reptiles. However, anyone would think they are safe at home. That might be changing now. Maybe alligators are evolving into an animal that understand refrigerators just like humans. At least that’s what seems to be the case in one Florida home. An 11-foot gator smashed into the home of a Clearwater woman, who was ready to fight the supersized reptile over her red wine bottle case.
“He got my red wine—the good stuff,” said homeowner Mary Wicshhusen of her experience with the unruly alligator that broke into her home.
Yesterday around 3:30AM in the morning, Wichhusen heard a crashing noise from her kitchen. She ran to see what it was and even quicker than she walked towards the sound, she ran back to her room. Lying on the floor of her kitchen was an 11-foot alligator the broke in through a ground floor window. Next to it, her best red wine bottles shattered on the floor. It upset her but the alligator did not mind waddling in the aged grape juice. It is just too bad for the homeowner the 11-footer did not prefer less expensive wine coolers. Perhaps the alligator would have crashed into another home instead, preferring those.
What was the Alligator looking for?
It’s not clear what the creature’s intentions were. However, now that is has broken through a window and possibly learned a ‘trick’ to get into homes, it must be relocated. Police who arrived to the scene apprehended the ‘B&E’ offender and took it to a private location. Officials hope it will go to a private farm, if deemed the proper temperament for such an environment. The experience for the animal is traumatic and how it responds to humans afterwards will likely be different.
There is a possibility that the scene of something in her kitchen attracted the animal. According to Desertnews.com, alligators do have a fairly acute sense of smell. Judging by tests, they do distinguish certain scents and have favorites that drive them to attack or investigate smells more aggressively.
“The alligator’s sense of smell also plays a part in its search for prey. Cheesecloth bags filled with nutria remains – the swamp-dwelling rodent is one of the alligator’s favorite meals – invariably draw the hungry predators.”
Judging by those results, perhaps the gator smelled a rodent or meat that had been out as it was passing by the Clearwater home’s kitchen. Either way, Mary Wicshhusen just wants her red wine back.
Watch a video reporting of the news story below from a Tampa Bay, Florida news station. The news reporter even points out the broken bottles. The drinks became a ‘wine cooler’ to the alligator who bathed in the beverages on the kitchen floor.
Neither reporter, in all of their time in Florida, have heard of an alligator breaking through a glass window. It is sure to create new views on owning floor windows in the sunshine state.
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