Alligator hiding under pickup in driveway startles Florida couple, video shows

A confused alligator ended up stuck in a Florida family’s driveway when it entered a cul-de-sac and couldn’t master a U-turn.

Video posted on Facebook by homeowners Joey and Brooke Quinlan shows they found the reptile in the worst of spots — hiding under their pickup truck by the garage door.

It happened April 13 in Tampa, and the first clue of trouble was a neighbor standing in the street, staring at the home, the video shows.

Joey Quinlan stepped off his front porch just in time to see the alligator at the end of his walkway. It then began to back further under the truck, the video shows.

“Oh my gosh, there is an alligator in my driveway,” Brooke Quinlan is heard saying in the video. “Baby, don’t go close to it.”

The incident happened amid alligator courtship season in Florida, a period when males wander outside their home turf in search of mates, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. A month of courtship is followed by mating in May or June, the state says.

Joey Quinlan called the discovery “exciting and shocking” and says a neighbor alerted him of the 4-foot gator with a phone call, WFLA reported. It was a first for the family, which moved from Illinois to Florida just over three years ago, the station reported.

“As there are a lot of children and pets in the neighborhood, I decided I needed to call the authorities, who put me in touch with the local gator trapper,” Quinlan told Storyful.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports it learned of the alligator around 8 p.m. and “a trapper responded and removed the alligator.”

This story was originally published April 20, 2023 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Alligator hiding under pickup in driveway startles Florida couple, video shows."