HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A Humble couple got quite the scare Monday afternoon after returning from a trip out of town.
They were greeted by an 8-foot alligator that made its way to their front porch in the 19700 block of Bolton Bridge Lane.
"We pulled up in front of the house here and when my girlfriend got out, she went to go unlock the door and open the garage door to put my boat in, well there was an alligator on the front porch and he slapped her with a tail," homeowner Jody White said.
The woman had to go get checked out at the hospital but she is expected to be OK.
“I thought I heard something, and I looked out of the side of my eye and all I could see was his mouth and it was open,” Tami Tanner said. “And he was hissing. So I sort of just stopped for a second, ‘No this isn’t real, no this isn’t real.’ And I was going to turn and run, and when I did he popped me on my left knee with his tail. And I fell right there. When my boyfriend saw me, he jumped right out with the gun.”
Deputies called Texas Parks and Wildlife to the home to help relocate the gator and take it back to a more suitable habitat.
“When she first hollered, I thought somebody was behind the brick wall there,” White said. “So I come running up and it was an alligator and he made a loud roar and I picked her up and drug her out here back to the truck and I called the police and game warden.”
Photos posted to the Harris County Precinct 4 Facebook page show the gator being restrained in order to move it safely.
It's an uncommon sight for the couple.
“In the middle of a subdivision, you just don’t see an alligator, 8-footer, every day on your front porch,” White said. “Kind of spooky.”
Watch video of the gator capture below: