A three-foot alligator casually cruised into a North Carolina bagel shop and shocked the unsuspecting owner on a late October afternoon after the restaurant had closed.
The young gator made its way across a parking lot, entered through the open back door of Bagel Dock Express in Southport, padded through the stockroom and kitchen, and arrived to lurk in the public area of the eatery, as seen in a surveillance video the business first posted on Facebook that went viral this week.
While the little gator was taking a break from his stroll, unsuspecting store owner Jesse Driscoll, who reportedly had been previously occupied with the installation of a new oven, discovered the reptile near the service counter.
He jumped back a good five yards when he saw the uninvited guest.
Driscoll scampered outside and summoned another man into the store to show him what he had found before calling 911.
Southport Police and Animal Protective Services soon arrived and safely removed the young reptile. Such alligators are native to the North Carolina coast, according to WWAY News.
Southport is about 60 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach.
“It’s just so far out of the ordinary for a bagel shop,” Driscoll told WWAY. “You can see lots of things. People coming in. Friends coming in to say hi. But, never in a million years did I think I’d see an alligator. It was a shock to see me as I was him.”
Driscoll, however, didn’t miss a beat and used the encounter as a promotion.
“Apparently, word of our fresh bagels has made it way into the swamp,” the Bagel Dock wrote with the video.
He concluded in the Facebook post, “No injuries, no drama. Just one very unusual customer! Fresh bagels. Wild experiences.”
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
