TAMPA, Fla. (CNN/WTSP) -- An alligator came within inches of catching a tasty bobcat, on the edge of a retention pond in Tampa. But he just missed. And a lucky neighbor with a camera snapped some amazing pictures of the encounter.
Ten feet of gator was lurking in this Tampa Palms retention pond, and the star of this news story. Homeowner Bryan Peabody behind his home when something catches his eye, a Florida bobcat sitting on the pond's edge, so he grabbed his camera! He says, "When all of a sudden this monster head of a gator pops out of the water and it took my breath away. I mean, I was literally standing here breathless."
Bryan stood riveted and watched as the massive, gator emerged from the pond, and with stealth, zeroed in on the cat, moving closer, closer, and closer. He says, "Because it was a lift and gracefully move towards the cat. And to see the cat just sit there like nothing's happening. I wanted to alarm it, like I said, but I couldn't believe that's how sneaky a huge gator can be."
The bobcat was sitting about here on the banks when the gator crawled out of the pond. How close did the gator get? Bryan says, "He got all the way up to the cat, and literally, I think a breath from the gator is what alerted the cat, and the cat jumped and the gator lunged after him."
Bryan has three children including 5-year-old Madison who plays outside, but he remembers this is the reptile and bobcat's turf. Peabody says, "It's a respect relationship. We respect the animals, and the animals respect us."