IBERIA PARISH, La. (KLFY) – At around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, the Shultz family was asleep when their dog Panda, a blue heeler, started barking at something roaming around inside of their home.
Jan Schultz noticed the type of bark Panda was giving off was not normal.
“She (Jan) woke me up and said somebody is in the house,” Don Schultz said.
Shultz went out the room to see where the intruder may be. He said he didn’t see anything until he looked down and saw something he could not believe. It was a five-foot-long alligator in the hallway.
“That is when I jumped back, and told my wife there was an alligator in the house,” Schultz said.
He called the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office for assistance. He said deputies showed up quickly while agents from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries made their way to the home as well.
When they got to the house, Schultz said it was difficult for the agencies to get into the home because the gator was in between him and the front door. Once they finally got in the house, wildlife and fisheries quickly subdued the reptile and took it back to a swamp where it can live in peace.
Schultz said wildlife and fisheries has a theory as to how and why the alligator managed to get into the home: Because of the heat Acadiana is having, alligators are looking for cooler climates. The reptile climbed up the Schultz’s chain-link fence in their back yard and came in through the doggie door.
“Judging by our ring camera, the dog goes out at around 1:30 a.m. to do her business, so she probably was out and came back in. It probably followed her into the house,” Schultz said.
Schultz said the family would like to thank everyone who responded to the call and safely removed the gator from the home and back into the swamp where it belongs.