An alligator went "window shopping" at a north Florida strip mall recently, walking along the sidewalk and tapping its nose against the glass of a store.
The strange incident was captured by Denise Nichols-Gearhardt, who was working in a nearby store in Flagler Beach, when she noticed the reptile casually strolling by and decided to film it with her phone, WSVN reported.
Nichols-Gearhardt described how at one point the alligator, which was likely using the pathway to get to a nearby retention pond, tapped its nose against the glass of a doughnut store.
"We joked that he was trying to get a doughnut," she said per WSVN.
Nichols-Gearhardt told Fox News that she decided to call emergency services for Flagler Beach "simply because we have other business in the mall, and I was worried someone would step outside and startle him."
"I am a native Floridian and am not spooked by them, but I do know not to startle them and to get out of their way," she said, per The Miami Herald.
"I had the door to the store open all day... if I wouldn't have walked outside and saw him he probably would have ended up inside."
This is not the first time an alligator has made an appearance at the mall.
Nichols-Gearhardt said that about a year ago one crossed through the parking lot to get to a pond on the other side of the building.
"But this guy wanted to use the sidewalk," she told Fox News.
It seems that alligators might just enjoy shopping because in 2015 a 12-foot alligator was caught outside a mall in Sugar Land, Texas, The Daily Mail reported.
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