Richard Wilbanks, a 74-year-old man from Florida, was walking Gunner, his 3-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, around a pond last month when a reptile came out of the water and grabbed the dog. Richard said that the reptile was as quick as a missile.
The man jumped in the water, trying to save his dog. Cameras placed by the Florida Wildlife Federation captured the moment when Richard jumped in the pond and tried to grab the reptile.
Gunner could be heard barking as Richard struggled with getting the aligator`s jaws off his dog. When he managed to grab it, the reptile was still holding the dog in its paws. That’s really amazing is that Richard never dropped the cigar he was smoking.
As soon as he managed to defeat the alligator, Gunner ran out of the pond. However, Richard continued scrapping in the water, trying to free his own hands from the reptile`s mouth. Finally, Richard succeeded to throw the reptile over a fence. Richard immediately visited a vet. Even though he experienced a puncture wound on his stomach, he did not want the reptile to be killed.
His hands suffered injuries from the reptile`s mouth, so Richard received tetanus shots and underwent treatment. Now, his wounds have healed.
The footage, which was shared to all social media last week, had more than 11.4 million views in 24 hours. It was first captured by the Florida Wildlife Foundation and fSTOP Foundation, which hope to promote how animals and humans coexist.
Meredith Budd of the Florida Wildlife Federation said that there is an expansive area of wild habitat surrounding the neighboring residential communities.
People who live at the interface of these residential communities must take extra precautions. Florida officials have also stated that residents living near water should be more careful.
