Huge alligator makes late night visit to South Carolina woman's front door

CONWAY, S.C., May 10 (UPI) -- A South Carolina woman who heard a knocking at her door said she "lost it" when she looked out a window and saw her guest -- a nearly 9-foot-long alligator.

Shatrina Shy Greenwood said she was on the phone Sunday night at her Conway home shortly after arriving from an arts and crafts event in Charlote, N.C., when she heard a noise outside her door.

Greenwood said she initially though the knocking was her 80-pound lab, but when she went to the window and looked down, she was shocked to find an 8-foot, 9-inch alligator at her door.

"I looked out the window and I saw nothing until I looked down, and then I lost it," Greenwood told WJZY-TV.

Greenwood called 911 and dispatchers directed her toward the Snake Chaser Nuisance Wildlife Removal and Management Service.

The resident said she eventually got a hold of the Snake Chaser, aka Russell Cavender, who arrived at her property about 1:30 a.m.

"The guy came to the door by himself, in shorts," Greenwood said.

Greenwood captured video of the gator at her door about the time Cavender arrived and posted the footage to Facebook.

The video shows Cavender wrangling the alligator, which Greenwood nicknamed Bobby Alex.

Cavender, who posted photos from the capture to Facebook, said about two feet worth of Bobby Alex's tail was missing, likely a result of a fight with another male gator.

Greenwood, who said the alligator encounter was her closest in her four years of living in the area, said she was relieved to hear Cavender planned to release the reptile back into the wild.

"He got kind of cute after a while," she said.