{"id":263421,"date":"2026-05-08T13:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/263421\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:15:09","slug":"wayward-gator-strolls-into-tampa-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/263421\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayward gator strolls into Tampa neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text text--small text--normal text--primary\">Published:\u00a0May 8, 2026 at 8:51 AM<\/p>\n<p>A Tampa woman found more proof this week that alligator mating season is in full swing as a wayward gator found its way into her neighborhood this week. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">TAMPA, Fla.  \u2014 A Tampa woman found more proof this week that alligator mating season is in full swing as a wayward gator found its way into her neighborhood this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Jennifer Becker arrived home from work Tuesday to find the gator right in front of her neighbor\u2019s front door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The gator finally gave up on trying to get inside, and ended up in a nearby pond. Becker said she\u2019s lived in Florida most of her life and has seen plenty of alligators, but never this close.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">You\u2019ll want to steer clear of gators this time of the year, because they are typically more active and aggressive when looking for love.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/myfwc.com\/conservation\/you-conserve\/wildlife\/alligators\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/myfwc.com\/conservation\/you-conserve\/wildlife\/alligators\/\">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<\/a>, we are in the midst of alligator mating season, as courtship begins in early April and mating occurs between May and June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The FWC reminds the public to never feed an alligator and keep your distance if you see one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cSwim only in designated swimming areas during daylight hours. And keep pets on a leash and away from the water,\u201d the FWC warns on its website. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">People with concerns about an alligator may call FWC\u2019s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/florida\/2026\/05\/08\/wayward-gator-strolls-into-tampa-neighborhood\/tel:866-392-4286\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">866-392-4286<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Amanda Batchelor\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/author-service-images-sandbox-us-east-1.publishing.aws.arc.pub\/wplginc\/83776d46-011c-4018-ab.jpeg\"  width=\"100\" height=\"100\"\/>Amanda Batchelor<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-author-bio__author-description\">Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published:\u00a0May 8, 2026 at 8:51 AM A Tampa woman found more proof this week that alligator mating season&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-263421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}