Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla., April 14 (UPI) -- Members of a Florida family said they were shocked by their beagle's discovery in their back yard pool -- a 10-foot-long alligator. Annemarie Donovan of New Port Richey said her husband Kenneth came home from lunch Tuesday and spotted the gator when he went out to see why the family's dog, Jake, was barking at the pool, the St. Petersburg Times reported Thursday. Advertisement "We have been here 20 years and have never seen anything like this," Annemarie Donovan said. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent trapper Candy Moniz to catch the reptile. The Donovans said the alligator managed to chip a pool tile during its struggle with Moniz. Moniz was able to tape the gator's mouth shut and load it into her truck. Officials said the animal would be put down as part of Fish and Wildlife's nuisance policy. The Donovans theorized the alligator may have come from a retention lake near their home. "We need to get that screen fixed," Donovan said, "before a rattlesnake comes in."
