Deputies pretend to cuff an eight-foot alligator "trespassing"­ in the deep end of a family swimming pool at Naples Heritage.

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Associated Press

In this photo released by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, an 8-foot long alligator is seen in the kitchen of an Oldsmar, Fla., home Monday. A trapper removed the gator from the home.

Janis Godlewski ran down the sidewalk to her friend’s Heritage Bay home late Tuesday night, but an encounter at the foot of the stairs proved to be anything but friendly.

“Right as I’m coming up to the stairwell I stopped just in time to see the gator there,” Godlewski said. “I stopped just short of his tail. I was maybe two feet away.”

Godlewski called her friend, Dustin Farlow, who had fallen asleep on his couch. After taking a detour around the angry 6-foot alligator, Godlewski got to Farlow’s unit and called for help.

Authorities from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission eventually arrived, noosed the reptile and took it away.

“He was hissing,” Godlewski said. “He would open his mouth really wide and make this loud, hissing sound. He was not happy.”

As summer approaches and temperatures continue to rise, alligators become more active as they look for potential mates, said Gabriella Ferraro, spokeswoman for the Conservation Commission’s South Region.

That means more calls of alligators on the lawn, in the swimming pool, and as one Oldsmar woman found recently, in the kitchen.

Once on the edge of extinction, alligators are now considered fully recovered in all of their native-range states, the Conservation Commission reported.

Experts believe there are more than a million alligators in Florida, residing in all of the state’s 67 counties.

Every year the Conservation Commission gets nearly 20,000 calls to its nuisance alligator hot line, 1-866-FWC-GATOR (392-4286), Ferraro said.

About half of those calls result in gators being removed.

Calls begin to spike in the spring when the frisky gators get a boost of metabolism. The hot line received 62 alligator nuisance calls from Collier County in April, officials said.

“I think it started about last month, but the calls are becoming more frequent to our hot line,” Ferraro said. “That’s common. That’s what we expect this time of year.”

Video of the 8-footer in the Oldsmar kitchen, just north of Tampa, was splashed all over the cable news channels in April. Later that month, a 62-year-old man who was diving for golf balls at a Tampa country club was attacked by a 10- to 12-foot alligator that bit his arm and attempted to drag him under the water.

On Thursday, the Conservation Commission removed an 8-foot gator from a sidewalk leading to a Palm Beach County elementary school, Ferraro said. Another 8-footer was removed from a nearby canal.

Still, alligator attacks in Florida are uncommon, Ferraro said.

There were 13 unprovoked bites in 2007, and five provoked bites, according to the state agency.

The only reported death in Florida last year was that of 36-year-old Justo Antonio Padron, who was attacked and killed by an alligator while he was eluding police and swimming across a pond at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation.

The likelihood of a person being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator encounter in Florida is about one in 2.4 million, the Conservation Commission reported.

Alligators do become more aggressive toward humans when people feed them, which is prohibited in Florida. Gators that are fed by people begin to associate humans with food, Ferraro said.

“Gators will eat anything and everything,” Ferraro said. “They’re like garbage disposals. If they’re not conditioned around people, they’re pretty timid and they shy away. ... They are born with an innate fear of us.”

Tell that to Donna Young, who said she’s had an 8-foot gator hanging out near the shore of a pond behind her home in the Waterways of Naples community. Young believes the reptile is stalking her dog, and said she’s concerned about the children in her neighborhood.

“It’s been coming within 5 to 10 feet of the shore looking for something,” Young said. “It’s been on my next-door neighbor’s lawn. ... My concern is, it seems to be braver and braver, and it’s lingering behind the house.”

Ferraro said people who are concerned about an alligator in their neighborhood should call for professional help.

“Don’t try to get it out yourself,” Ferraro said. “You want to observe gators from a distance. Obviously they’re potentially dangerous animals, so let the experts deal with it.”

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MICHELLE LE / Staff

An American alligator seems to smile for the camera during a special Earth Day Animal Encounter, Apr. 19, at the Naples Zoo. Once on the endangered species list, alligator populations have rebounded in Florida. Today, the Florida Wildlife Commission sponsors a yearly hunt to help control the population.

GATOR SAFETY TIPS

• If you encounter an alligator more than 4 feet long or that poses a threat to life or property, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission alligator hot line at (866) 392-4286 (866-FWC-GATOR).

• Be aware of the possible presence of gators whenever you are in or near fresh or brackish water.

• Closely supervise children whenever they are playing in or around water and never let them play unsupervised near water.

• Don’t swim outside of posted swimming areas or in areas known to be home to gators.

• Don’t swim at night because that’s when gators are most active.

• Don’t allow dogs to play in or near water that may be inhabited by gators. Dogs are more susceptible to being bitten than humans because they resemble a gator’s natural prey. Their barking may attract gators.

• Never feed alligators. It’s illegal and makes them lose their fear of humans.

• Observe and photograph gators only from a distance.

• If attacked, make as much noise and commotion as possible. Hit the alligator and poke its eyes. A gator is more likely to release prey it can’t easily overpower.

• Seek immediate medical attention for gator bites as they can cause serious infections.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission