A happy, healthy family dog died recently at the hands of an alligator near a public pond in Florida capitol Tallahassee. Wildlife officials said that local resident Joshua Wells was out for a simple lunch in the park one day when the incident occurred. Wells would take him fully-grown 40-pound black lab out for a quick walk and game of fetch during his lunch break everyday.
The attack happened at J.R. Alford Greenway Trail, a popular public park in the city. Wells said nothing out of the ordinary happened leading up to the attack. One moment his dog was sniffing near the water’s edge, the next he was being carried away in the mouth of a 9-foot alligator.
Wells said that the gator grabbed Toby by the head so quickly that he didn’t even hear a bark. At that point, very little could be done to save the poor pup.
“Boom, the water just sort of exploded,” Wells told the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as reported by FOX. “He never barked. He never saw it. It took him down like it was nothing.”
Wells tried briefly to wrestle the dog away from the gator, but quickly reconsidered. He said the gator’s size was so large that he worried about his own life.
“He said he soon realized that was not a good idea and let the alligator go,” the FWC report said.
Wildlife officials were able to track down the gator after Wells’ report. A trapper found the dog’s remains in the gator, which officially measured 9 feet, 2-inches in size. Gator trappers often recover collars, leashes, and tags inside alligator stomachs and intestines. The dog was not leashed at the time of the attack.
A Florida man mistakes an alligator for a dog — and pays the price
A Sarasota man mistakenly thought a noise coming from the bushes of his hotel room was a leashed dog; but he was very wrong. The shadowy figure ended up being an alligator that did not want to be petted.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred around 12:35 a.m. Tuesday morning last week. When the man went to investigate the noise, the animal charged him. But since he thought it was a dog the entire time, the man didn’t move.
The gator actually ripped off a piece of the man’s leg flesh, leading to a hospital visit and a bad Florida story. A police deputy responded to the scene and administered first aid. The sheriff’s office said another deputy was able to capture the gator before the trapper arrived at the scene; then it was removed from the area.
The man’s medical status was not disclosed.
