Merritt Island man finds gator in garage while trying to retrieve box

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Merritt Island man found an alligator in his garage Wednesday morning while trying to retrieve a box.

Hank Stout told Channel 9 that he went into the garage of his Wild Flower Street home to grab a box when he noticed what appeared to be a realistic alligator.

Stout said he thought someone placed a fake alligator in his garage as a prank, and he almost decided to reach out and touch it. He's glad he didn't.

“This is the box I was reaching for, and his head was right here,” said Stout. “It was a good size gator.”

When the gator started hissing at him, Stout quickly realized that the 6-foot reptile was no fake.

He immediately went back into the interior of the home and called 911, he said.

Wildlife trappers came to Stout’s home to wrangle the gator. The experts said that it’s likely the gator sought a hiding spot while traveling from one body of water to another.

When the gator started hissing at him, Stout quickly realized that the 6-foot reptile was no fake.

He immediately went back into the interior of the home and called 911, he said.

Wildlife trappers came to Stout’s home to wrangle the gator. The experts said that it’s likely the gator walked into the open garage while traveling from one body of water to another.

It took trapper Frank Robb a few minutes to rope the gator.

“You get calls like this every now and again. People leaving their garage doors open at night time,” Robb said. “The closer we get to spring the more this will keep happening.”

WATCH: Gator captured in Brevard County garage:

Trappers said that gators tend to be on the move more during mating season, which will begin soon.

Stout said he thinks the gator might have walked into the garage door Tuesday night while he took his son to a Boy Scouts meeting because he left the door up.

Stout’s encounter wasn’t his first with a gator. When he was 15-years-old, his brother and a friend caught a 7-goot alligator in South Florida.

Cox Media Group