{"id":278530,"date":"2026-09-04T00:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/278530\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T00:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:02:14","slug":"welcome-to-florida-8-foot-alligator-greets-philadelphia-couple-that-recently-moved-to-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/278530\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Welcome to Florida\u2019: 8-foot alligator greets Philadelphia couple that recently moved to Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ey6ecs6e8ofgn24h.jpg\" alt=\"New Florida residents find gator in driveway\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ey6ecs6e8ofgn24h.jpg\" alt=\"New Florida residents find gator in driveway\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image vod-poster-image--embedded\" data-v-5173a8d8=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/video\/fmc-031p4htd08gv4kax\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Florida residents find gator in driveway<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-892ef6a8=\"\">A recent move from Philadelphia to Florida came with an unexpected welcome package for one local couple: an eight-foot alligator resting under their driveway golf cart. FOX 13&#8217;s Kailey Tracy reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">PALMETTO, Fla. &#8211; A recent move from Philadelphia to Florida came with an unexpected welcome package for one local couple: an eight-foot alligator resting under their driveway golf cart.<\/p>\n<p>   Unexpected welcome <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Allan Hofmann was returning from walking his dog Sunday morning when he spotted the 300-pound reptile lounging near his vehicle. He and his wife Sandy believe the alligator cut through the couple&#8217;s backyard from a nearby preserve, as he was covered in mud.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Allan Hofmann initially tried to nudge the animal along using a pool noodle. The alligator responded by hissing, he said. They called 911.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gator-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Trappers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived shortly after, hosing down the muddy reptile before safely securing and relocating it.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;We got that a lot from our neighbors saying, &#8216;Oh, welcome to Florida,'&#8221; Sandy Hofmann said. &#8220;At first, I wasn&#8217;t as scared as I should have been because I&#8217;m not used to them &#8230; but it was scary because if he started moving around, even if anybody walked behind him, he jolted up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gator-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The alligator left visible claw marks on the concrete driveway. The couple said they hope their story serves as a warning for other newcomers to keep a safe distance from local wildlife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this story is from Sandy and Allan Hofmann.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/manatee\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manatee County<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Florida residents find gator in driveway A recent move from Philadelphia to Florida came with an unexpected&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25542,116606,139,69,71,70,593],"class_list":["post-278530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-fl","tag-manatee","tag-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}