‘Never in a million years’: alligator strolls into North Carolina bagel shop

3ft-long reptile was looking for a meal before animal protective services safely removed it from establishment

Surveillance cameras installed in a North Carolina bagel shop caught a small alligator purposefully strolling though the back door, through the stockroom and to the front counter, startling employees and customers – one of whom armed himself with a chair against the intruder.

The 3ft-long alligator’s intrusion in Bagel Dock Express in Southport, North Carolina, last Thursday was later shared by the business.

Shop owner Jesse Driscoll told a local news outlet that the encounter was “just so far out of the ordinary for a bagel shop. You can see lots of things. People coming in. Friends coming in to say hi.