9-Foot Gator Bites FL Man Answering Door To His Home: Report

DAYTONA BEACH, FL — A man was bitten by a 9-foot gator Saturday night after opening the front door to his Daytona Beach home, according to multiple reports.

Scott Hollingsworth was watching TV just before 10 p.m. when he heard a noise outside his home. Thinking it was someone who was looking for his son, he opened the door, reports said.

Instead, there was a gator at his door, and the reptile lunged at him, biting his upper thigh.

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"Went outside and didn't turn the light on and just got a step outside and something grabbed me on the leg, started shaking violently," Hollingsworth told WESH.

Initially, he thought that the animal attacking him was a dog.

“It happened so quickly, wasn’t a whole lot (of time). It was just total surprise and shock,” Hollingsworth told ClickOrlando.com. “We see alligators behind our house, it’s a regular thing, but they always keep their distance from us.”

He added, “I suspect I surprised the alligator as much as he surprised me.”

He was brought to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Daytona Beach police officers, working with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officers who responded to the scene, found the gator near the front door, according to WFTV.

They called a licensed alligator trapper to the home to euthanize the gator.