'That was a dinosaur.' Brunswick County neighborhood runs into issues saying see you later to lurking alligator

Running across an alligator is nothing new in the South, especially for those who live near a body of water. But how do you get rid of one? Some Brunswick County neighbors said they've had trouble saying, "See you later."

Carol Wollery has lived in her Brunswick County home for four years. She's seen a lot of wildlife, but nothing like this.

"He was so huge we thought it was fake, and my daughter was scared to pass him," said Wollery.

"When she drove past the alligator a couple of feet at a blink of an eye, the alligator spins around so fast and opened his mouth up. It was like a movie — like Lake Placid."

The alligator was first spotted in Tara Lax's front yard, then took up residence in the Wollery's pond next door.

After warning Lax to be careful, Wollery called wildlife and police — worried for the safety of her family and her pets.

"If we walked past there and he jumped out? We didn't, we didn't stand a chance with this." said Wollery.

When wildlife officials arrived the next day, neighbors said they were suprised officers did not remove the alligator, saying it was a protected species and if they'd wait a few days, he'd probably move on.

"When you keep being told there's nothing we can do, we just want to leave him alone, and we don't want to stress the alligator out, I understand that. I absolutely understand not wanting to stress a gator out. But at the same time, they're not taking into consideration the fact that we're stressed out, just trying to walk out to our vehicles, having our children come back and forth up and down the road," said Lax.

With a little prodding, officers did agree to give neighbors a permit so they could pay a private wildlife removal service to relocate the alligator. Neighbors said it cost them $600 dollars, but it was money well spent.

"They would have been a snack for him. We have five cats out here. We have a bird that we rescued. We love animals, but that was a dinosaur. Really, that was a dinosaur," said Wollery.