Guess who's coming for dinner?
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:16 am
Waiters and waitresses at a cafe in Port St. Lucie, Fla., got a shock when a customer moseyed in on all fours and started hissing at them.
The ornery patron at Cafe Creme was a 4 1/2-foot alligator that was apparently taking refuge from the dry, scorching heat, The Palm Beach Post reported.
Waitress Valerie Fox saw the reptile behind a back counter when she went to get coffee for some diners, according to the Post.
"He was standing there and he hissed, and I just freaked out," Fox, 47, told the newspaper.
Fox said she darted outside to call 911. Cops arrived on the scene with local animal control officers, who caught the gator, transported it to the Savannas Preserve State Park (search) and let it go, according to Port St. Lucie police.
The gator, which may have come from the St. Lucie River, was likely looking for some respite from the heat and entered the restaurant through a back door when it was ajar, the Post reported police as saying.
Though Fox told the newspaper she was trembling after coming face-to-face with the animal, others at the cafe got a laugh out of the incident. Customers who arrived at the restaurant were told to stay outside until the reptile had been hauled away.
"They wanted to come in and give the alligator chicken," Fox told the Post.
Fox said she's glad the gator was taken back to the wild.
"I think it's really great," she said. "I mean, you just can' t let him walk back out the door."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121719,00.html
The ornery patron at Cafe Creme was a 4 1/2-foot alligator that was apparently taking refuge from the dry, scorching heat, The Palm Beach Post reported.
Waitress Valerie Fox saw the reptile behind a back counter when she went to get coffee for some diners, according to the Post.
"He was standing there and he hissed, and I just freaked out," Fox, 47, told the newspaper.
Fox said she darted outside to call 911. Cops arrived on the scene with local animal control officers, who caught the gator, transported it to the Savannas Preserve State Park (search) and let it go, according to Port St. Lucie police.
The gator, which may have come from the St. Lucie River, was likely looking for some respite from the heat and entered the restaurant through a back door when it was ajar, the Post reported police as saying.
Though Fox told the newspaper she was trembling after coming face-to-face with the animal, others at the cafe got a laugh out of the incident. Customers who arrived at the restaurant were told to stay outside until the reptile had been hauled away.
"They wanted to come in and give the alligator chicken," Fox told the Post.
Fox said she's glad the gator was taken back to the wild.
"I think it's really great," she said. "I mean, you just can' t let him walk back out the door."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121719,00.html
