Alligator wanders into closed North Carolina bagel shop

Developing story first seen 2 hours ago

Daily Mail · 2 hours ago

New coverage confirms the alligator was safely captured and relocated after entering Bagel Dock Express in Southport, North Carolina. The unusual visit startled the shop’s owner and colleague, though the shop was closed and no customers were inside.

Surveillance footage shows the three-foot reptile walking through the kitchen and into the empty dining area. Owner Jesse Driscoll had been installing a new oven and called for help after spotting it; Southport police and Animal Protective Services responded to a 911 call. Driscoll joked that word of the shop’s fresh bagels had reached the swamp, while two other alligator sightings in Southport this year included one at a home and one at a bank drive-through.

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In short

A three-foot alligator entered a closed North Carolina bagel shop.
Police and animal services safely captured and relocated it.
No customers were present during the unexpected visit.

How this story developed

56 minutes ago A three-foot alligator wandered into Bagel Dock Express in Southport, North Carolina, startling owner Jesse Driscoll and his colleague. The shop was closed and no customers were inside, but the unexpected visit prompted a 911 call and a response from local police and animal services.
1 hour ago New coverage confirms the alligator was safely captured and relocated after entering Bagel Dock Express in Southport, North Carolina. The unusual visit startled the shop’s owner and colleague, though the shop was closed and no customers were inside.

Full account

A roughly three-foot alligator wandered into Bagel Dock Express in Southport, North Carolina, last Thursday, surprising staff at the shop. The business shared surveillance footage of the reptile moving through the premises. The reports describe its route differently: one says it passed through the kitchen and into the dining area; the other says it came in through a back door, crossed a stockroom and reached the front counter.

Owner Jesse Driscoll said he had been installing a new oven when the alligator entered. He later spotted it near the display fridges and called a colleague over. The shop was closed, Driscoll told a local broadcaster, so there were no customers inside. One account says staff panicked; another describes a person confronting the animal with a chair, though it does not identify that person.

Southport police and Animal Protective Services captured the alligator and relocated it. The police department said officers and an animal-protection officer carried out the removal. Driscoll described the encounter as highly unusual for a bagel shop, where he was accustomed to seeing customers and friends, but never expected to see an alligator.

The shop posted the footage with a joke that news of its fresh bagels had reached the swamp. The reports also place the incident in a broader context of alligator encounters in coastal North Carolina. One mentions two earlier sightings in Southport, including an alligator on a doorstep and another at a bank drive-through. The other focuses on state wildlife advice: do not feed or approach alligators, keep food scraps out of the water, and stay alert near waterways.

Where outlets differ

From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:

The reports give different descriptions of the alligator’s path through the shop: kitchen and dining area in one, back door, stockroom and front counter in the other.

One report says employees were left in a panic and notes that the shop was closed with no customers present. The other describes someone using a chair against the alligator, without saying whether that person was an employee or customer.

The second report adds wildlife-management context and guidance, including advice against feeding or handling alligators. The first instead highlights two earlier alligator sightings in Southport. The supplied accounts do not include publication names or URLs.