An alligator wanders into bagel shop in Southport, North Carolina, startling the owner and turning a quiet afternoon into an unexpected wildlife moment caught on surveillance video.
The roughly 3-foot reptile entered Bagel Dock Express on Oct. 29, slipping through an open back door and moving from the kitchen toward the front counter, according to the business and local authorities.
Security footage shows owner Jesse Driscoll spotting the alligator, stepping back quickly, and calling 911. The shop was closed to customers at the time. Driscoll told a local TV outlet he had been focused on workers installing a new oven when the animal appeared. “It’s just so far out of the ordinary for a bagel shop,” he said.
Southport police and Animal Protective Services responded and safely captured and relocated the alligator, officials said.
Bagel Dock Express later joked on Facebook that its reputation must have “made its way into the swamp,” adding that the unusual guest was escorted out without injuries or damage.
The sighting was not the first this year in Southport. In April, officers helped remove a 12-foot alligator from a residential property, and in a separate incident another was found beneath a car at a bank drive-through, police said.
Alligator wanders into bagel shop captured on video
Surveillance clips shared by the shop and police show the alligator crawling across the kitchen floor and past a beverage cooler before officers arrived to remove it.
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