Quote:
Originally Posted by GatorGus
(Post 556936)
I found out that my Westie, Bounce, is more important to me than me. Last Friday Bounce was pulled into a pond by a seven foot gator. I heard her yelp and saw her in the gator's mouth moving out into the pond. I didn't think. I leaped and did a belly flop onto the gator. I was able to grab the gator's back leg and get my other arm around his tail. After a short battle with the gator, he released Bounce and we both got away. We are both fine.
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You are so modest and humble in recounting your story, whereas it must have been quite a harrowing experience. You are a true hero. That pooch will be forever devoted to you and you deserve your new moniker of "Gator Gus". What an adorable pet.
For those with us with grandchildren and babies among that mix, toddlers, etc., it serves as a cautionary tale that there are alligators in those ponds.
When we'd take our teenaged children (at the time) to Sanibel Island which is known for their Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve, alligators abounded, yet the owners of the rental houses would pooh pooh it.
Better had we known how many there actually were and where they roamed (out of water)........but they didn't want to hurt the tourism.
We'd walk on the beach even.......and see the gators along the edge near the trees, sunning themselves........our daughter would warn her dad NOT to go up so close as they could SPRINT REALLY FAST.......Did he pay attention?? Of course not. When he'd take them canoing in the Ding Darling Preserve, there would be snakes hanging from the trees and I'm certain the alligators were in the water...........plus when we'd walk through the high grasses to get to the beach on the Gulf of Mexico.
Gives me the willies even thinking about it.
I just sent your story (Orlando Sentinal which I read every morning) to all my adult kids and such.......
In ending, we were very naive in our twenties when we lived for one year on the east coast of Florida.......during the heat of summer, early a.m., we took our 2 year old and 5 year old to a lake (more like a pond) nearby for a picnic........knowing we'd have to go back to our house before the heat of noontime, we held their hands and waded into the lake.........then packed up the car and left.
One week later, we read in the newspapers that a teenaged girl had been attacked and killed in that same lake/pond by a large gator..........we just weren't aware of the alligators at that time. After that, we knew. GLAD YOU ARE SAFE and the pooch as well. You will become the new alligator hunter in your neighborhood at TV, for sure.
