A Tampa hospital’s emergency room got an unexpected visitor this week: an 8-foot alligator that had made its way onto the property before a Tampa Police officer and a licensed nuisance alligator trapper stepped in to escort it away. The Tampa Police Department shared the encounter on social media, quipping that the reptile was hardly a typical patient.
“This certainly wasn’t your average ER patient!” the department said, according to WFLA. A Tampa police officer helped escort the alligator off the hospital’s property, and a nuisance alligator trapper handled the actual removal of the animal from the grounds, per the same report.
The department used the moment to remind Floridians not to approach, feed, or tease alligators, and urged residents to give the animals space whenever they turn up somewhere they shouldn’t be. Anyone who spots an alligator longer than four feet that appears to pose a threat is asked to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s nuisance alligator hotline at 866-392-4286, the outlet reported.
Why Hospitals and Highways Aren’t Off-Limits to Gators
The hospital visit fits a pattern state wildlife officials have documented for years. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission defines a nuisance alligator as any animal at least four feet long that is believed to pose a threat to people, pets, or property — the same threshold cited in the hospital case. Once a trapper is dispatched under the agency’s Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program, the outcome is rarely a trip back to the wild…