TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man is recovering after he was attacked by an alligator while answering his front door in Daytona Beach Saturday night.

According to NBC affiliate WESH, officers were called to a home on Champions Drive around 9:45 p.m. after a man was bitten by an alligator.

Police said the man opened his front door after hearing a noise that he thought was someone looking for his son.

“Went outside and didn’t turn the light on,” Scott Hollingsworth recalled. “Just got a step outside and something grabbed me on the leg, started shaking violently.”

Hollingsworth said he thought it was a dog at first, but quickly realized it was an alligator.

“Six feet or seven feet,” Hollingsworth guessed at the size of the reptile. “I really didn’t get a good look at it. When I saw what it was, I stepped back in the house and closed the door.”

When Hollingsworth looked down, he said he noticed a large gash in the side of his leg.

“I was trying to put pressure on it,” Hollingsworth added.

He was rushed to an area hospital for surgery.

“Fortunately, there’s no damage to my knee, which I was concerned about,” Hollingsworth told the news outlet. “Everything’s going well.”

A wildlife trapper was called to capture and euthanize the alligator responsible for the attack. The Hollingsworth family later learned the alligator was closer to nine feet.