Alligator Takes a Swim in a Parkland Pool

By: Sharon Aron Baron

From the corner of her eye, Nicole Rivera thought she was looking at a snake that slithered into her pool. But when she went outside her Parkland home, she quickly realized it was an alligator.

Rivera was stunned.  “I have two daughters, ages 9 and 12, as well as a toy poodle.”

Her husband was out of town at the time, so she contacted Florida Fish and Wildlife who told her it was over a year old — and close to four feet long.

“You are one tough cookie,” Rivera said on the video to FWC Officer Grant as she secured the alligator.

“I grew up with these things,” she replied.

Once it was safe, Officer Grant allowed Rivera’s nine-year-old daughter to pet it — to her delight.

Like many other residents in the Heron Bay community, Rivera can either have a pool screen or wrought iron fencing.

“I have the wrought iron fence, and that’s how it got in.”

She said on Sunday, they would be covering the gaps with netting to prevent another one from getting in.