Florida Man Saves His Lab From Jaws of Alligator
Florida is an interesting place. Between the heat and humidity and the state's natural flora and fauna, Floridians are no stranger to hurricanes, sharks, alligators, and even lizards falling from the sky. It's a lot.
But the most noteworthy natural threat in Florida (among so many, we might add) are the state's alligators. While alligator attacks on humans and dogs aren't particularly common, your chances of getting nibbled on by a gator in Florida are never zero because the scaly buggers are everywhere.
Florida man Mike McCoy and his 8-month-old chocolate Labrador retriever Jake make up one of the most recent cautionary gator tales, thanks to a walk by a pond behind Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday, Fla. McCoy and Jake were minding their own business, enjoying a leisurely stroll, when a gator that had been relaxing in the pond spied the pair and thought Jake looked like a tasty meal.
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Moments like that are where our fight or flight instincts kick in and our adrenaline makes us opt for self preservation or conflict. And when McCoy saw his young pupper snapped up, he knew which direction he was headed.
Rolling up his (presumably metaphorical) sleeves, McCoy jumped into the lack and grabbed the rolling gator.
"I previously read up on my environment and gators," McCoy told WFTS. "I got around, thumbed him [in] the eye, picked him out of the water so he couldn't get anywhere until he let the dog go. And in the interim he decided, I don't have him, I'll bite you."
We don't know how McCoy summoned the strength to get away from the gator, but we are happy to report that both human and dog are alive and well with no more than a few stitches each as mementos of their harrowing experience.
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The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is currently working with a local trapper to remove the gator from the pond and relocate it to someplace safer for both the gator and people and pets in the area. In the meantime, the commission cautions people to be aware of their surroundings, especially when around ponds, rivers, or wetlands—even more so during the warmer months when gators mate and younglings hatch.
As for McCoy, while one can hope he's not actively looking forward to his next gator fight, he told WFTS that he'd do it all over again if it meant saving Jake.
"No hesitation. It's just the way it is."
