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. But never in a million years did I think I’d see an alligator.

Driscoll had been installing a new oven when the gator walked in. The errant reptile, probably a federally protected American alligator, was safely removed by Southport police and animal protective services.

The Southport police department posted to social media: “SPD Officers along with APS Officer Ward removed an alligator from inside the Bagel Dock late this afternoon. The gator was safely captured and relocated.”

Earlier this year the North Carolina wildlife resources commission warned coastal residents and visitors not to feed or interact with the alligator population.

The commission said biologists with its wildlife helpline were receiving “several calls per day as public encounters with alligators” increased during the alligator mating season.

While the bagel shop encounter technically occurred out of mating season, wildlife management district biologist John Henry Harrelson said human-alligator encounters were increasing in coastal areas.

“People feeding alligators ultimately leads to those animals seeing humans as a potential source for food,” Harrelson said. “Naturally alligators are shy, but through feeding, alligators can lose their fear of humans and that leads to a possible negative interaction between people and wildlife.”

In response to the rising number of human-alligator encounters, the state’s wildlife resources commission developed GatorWise, a checklist of alligator-awareness steps.

It advises residents to assume alligators are present; never feed alligators; not dispose of fish or food scraps in water; not harass, capture or handle an alligator; be responsible for people and pets in your care; and maintain awareness anytime you are in or near water.

Bagel Dock Express joked on social media that “apparently, word of our fresh bagels has made its way into the swamp!”