Man Saves Terrier From Gator and Loses Fingers

This South Carolina gator removed a human arm at the shoulder.

As I have noted before, there's not a lot of digging on the dogs in some part of the U.S. due to the ready presence of rattlesnakes, porcupines, and the absence of den holes due to the paucity of groundhogs.

And in Florida and Louisiana, of course, there's are alligators. One Florida newspaper tells a recent tale of dog-meets-giant-lizard:

David Grounds was walking his 7-year-old dog by the pond behind his home west of West Palm Beach on Saturday morning when he saw the wake of a 7-foot alligator approaching.

He screamed for Mandy, a wheaten terrier, to get away but it was too late: the gator clamped down on Mandy's midsection and the squealing dog was helpless as the alligator started thrashing. Grounds, 65, rushed over and grabbed the gator's mouth with his hands while poking it in its eye with his thumb.

"He was powerful," Grounds said from his Palms West Hospital bed Saturday night.

The gator released its grip and Mandy was saved. But then the gator snapped at Grounds, taking part of his right index and ring fingers.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials were called and trapped the gator in the 6300 block of North San Andros after the 7:30 a.m. attack. The 7-foot, 2-inch alligator was euthanized.

Grounds, a civil engineer, said he had no regrets about the rescue, calling his wounds "no big deal," other than putting the cramp in his typing at work.

"I'd do it again," he said.

While humans are only very rarely killed by alligators, dogs and cats resemble the natural prey of alligators and are frequent fodder at canals, golf course ponds, lakes, and slow rivers.

The Florida Dept. of Wildlife removes about 7,000 nuisance alligators every year, and private contractors remove even more.

Any alligator over 7 feet is potentially lethal to humans, and alligators grow to 14 feet and 1,000 pounds.
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