Reptile & Amphibian Forums

NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 19 April 05 Man fights off gator to save dog - Pet survives attack with 8-inch wound (Andi Atwater)
Ever hear a dog scream?
The sound is a hair-raising cross between a yelp and a cry, and it's something Jim "J.R." Richards will never forget after an alligator sunk its powerful jaws into the family's 137-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback.
"It was eerie," said Richards, 75, who ran to the dog's aid. "It's not something I ever want to hear again."
But Molly is alive and well today, thanks to Richards' quick thinking with a 10-foot PVC pipe.
The attack happened March 29 along the banks of the Ten Mile Canal that ribbons through Briarcliff in south Lee County.
Richards was tending to a sprinkler system near the canal for his family's palm nursery. His son and daughter-in-law, Dan and Cindy Richards, live on the six-acre property that includes half the width of the canal.
It's not unusual for the family dogs to take a quick dip in the canal late in the afternoon. It was about 3 p.m. when Richards heard the commotion.
"I looked up and saw them rolling in the water," he said. "I didn't even think about it. I grabbed that pipe and ran over there and whacked the gator on the head as hard as I could. Thank goodness I only had to do that once."
The alligator let go and Molly limped out of the water, sporting tooth marks down her hind leg and an eight-inch gaping hole on her hip where her skin was ripped off.
Cindy Richards, 42, rushed her 5-year-old dog to an animal hospital where veterinarians began the first of two surgeries to repair Molly.
"For the first three days it was touch and go," she said. "My biggest worry is that she would end up with an infection. But she's doing really well now. I'm grateful for the doctors and I want to warn people that alligators don't just go for the little dogs."
While experts point out that alligators generally are afraid of humans, there always seem to be some exceptions.
In this case, it's mating season, said Lee County trapper Tracy Hansen, who along with his father-in-law, caught 659 alligators last year.
The Richardses called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to report the attack. FWC officials immediately sent a trapper.
Hansen, a Fort Myers minister who traps alligators for the state on the side, said he caught three large alligators near the couple's home a day after the attack.
One was 7 feet 2 inches, another was 6 feet 10 inches and the third was 8 feet 5 inches — all well-equipped to take on a large dog.
"Those are pretty good size," Hansen said. "This is mating season and they're trying to feed. Anything's game at this point."
FWC officials said the Richardses did right by calling the state to report the attack. Any time an alligator becomes aggressive around humans or their pets, it's time to get rid of them, spokesman Gary Morse said.
"The problem comes when alligators start to attack dogs — if a dog is food for an alligator, guess what the alligator also associates with the dog: people," he said.
"When do you call us? When there's a gator in a place it shouldn't be. When a gator in or next to the water doesn't retreat and comes relatively close to you. Any time an alligator takes a prey item close to a person. Call us."
Jim Richards said he is keeping even a closer eye on the canal as he works the nursery every afternoon, especially because he's certain he's seen an even bigger alligator swimming around since the trapper removed the other three.
But he may not have to worry much about Molly. The dog, who still sports stitches in her hip, hasn't gone near the water since the attack.
Richards, an unlikely hero who has undergone three angioplasties and has a pacemaker, said all he could think about was saving the family dog.
"Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I was worried about the dog," he said. "I'm not sure if I scared him, but he sure as hell scared me."
Man fights off gator to save dog

That dog should have been lunch!!!

>>That dog should have been lunch!!!

THATS A PRETTY COLD HEARTED REMARK...
-----
Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

Naw, I agree.. This statement disturbs me.. "When do you call us? When there's a gator in a place it shouldn't be".. Crocodilians were on this earth for billions of years before any humans, so realistically they deserve to be anywhere they choose. Why is an alligator not destroyed if it eats a raccoon?? Because the raccoon is not a pet, but if it were someones pet, it would be destroyed.. Pretty stupid way of thinking in my opinion.. How many dogs are on this planet?? Far more than there are alligators Im sure.. Say a dog kills a gator, no big deal right? A gator kills a dog as a MEAL, it's destroyed.. Same thing with people.. You can get a license to kill a certain number of gators every year, meanwhile, a single gator attacks a single person, it is hunted and destroyed.. I'm sure someone will get offended by all of this, but keep in mind that this is my opinion, and my way of thinking, and you can't change my mind.. I just hate hate hate reading about how an alligator bites someones hand or something and it is killed. People are destroying this earth, alligators don't destroy anything.

Matt

If you live somewhere where it is known to have alligators, it is your responsibility to make sure that your dog is on a leash!! Due to food loss in the wild, alligators are going to take anything they can get their jaws on. They dont distinguish the difference between a raccoon and a dog. I feel bad for the dog, because it was put in that position. But it was purely the owners fault, and now the alligator will be hunted and killed, because of a humans stupidity AS USUAL. I love dogs/cats/ferrets/etc. just as much as the next person. However, if I live someplace in which certain animals live that would eat them if they had the chance, it is my responsibility to make sure that I have complete control of my animals at all times. There is nothing cold hearted about my remark. It is simply the truth!! What is cold hearted, is what the alligator will get as a result.

Very true, people are of the mindset that "wild animals" should not be allowed to predate on humans or their pets, though I dont promote the idea, it is a risk that we must take if we want to have wild places. They are not murderous pedophiles, they are animals doing what animals do.....hunting other animals.