back to article Snap decision: 74-year-old Florida man wrests puppy from jaws of alligator

With a breath of some much-needed good news, The Register is obliged to point out that it's nice to see Florida Man* upending the stereotype of "world's worst superhero" by actually doing something heroic. Word emerged over the weekend via CNN that an elderly man was forced to prise his three-month-old Cavalier King Charles …

  1. Antron Argaiv Silver badge
    Pint

    Where's mum?

    Lucky for him the little gator didn't have a mum lurking in the same pond.

    Or else...

    1. Cederic Silver badge

      Re: Where's mum?

      That was my immediate thought when the creatures eventually emerged from the water.

      Although the little one may be independent and migrated away from home by that age, and even the big ones would struggle with a cigar smoking baby boomer.

      I do like alligators. Only been within 15 feet of one in the wild on land, about about 10 feet from one that was in the water while I was on a walkway (so not easily reached by it), but they're very relaxed animals unless they think you're food.

      That said, I did make sure not to get close to the 8 inch long babies I saw.

      1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: Where's mum?

        Looks like a mid-day incident, an adult gator would not be very interested. I used to live in remote Florida and swim in a lake that had gators, I just wouldn't do it late in the afternoon or at night - gators are riskier in areas where idiots feed them - it's way less of a problem in the wild.

        I canoed on the Hillsborough river for years and occasionally accidentally paddled over an adult gator that was just snoozing in the reeds - they just run off every time. Small gators are not a big deal - sure I wouldn't mess with one but if that had happened to me then I'd have done the same thing, it wasn't a big risk.

        A friend of mine way driving a four wheeler Jeep in the Everglades and ran over an adult gator on the track, he turned around to go back and met the gator coming back up the track - he's real good at reversing!

    2. jake Silver badge

      Re: Where's mum?

      If the 'gator's mum was in the same pond, at that size the 'gator would have become a snack years previously. The mum only remains domestic up to a certain point.

    3. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
  2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Both lived to tell the tale? What about the third?

    1. jake Silver badge

      Soup and a belt.

  3. Claverhouse Silver badge
    Alert

    The Joys of Democracy

    you should know the phenomenon of Florida Man may have arisen because it has really good public records laws.

    .

    No doubt. However this has always seemed to me a dubious argument for Americans to make:

    "There are not more demented/angry/bungling boobs in Florida: all our states have the same proportion of nutcases, we just cover it up better."

    1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
      Holmes

      Re: The Joys of Democracy

      I think Washington has a higher proportion at the moment, until mid - late January.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Devil

        Re: The Joys of Democracy

        Keep in mind that Trump is a official resident of Florida so he counts as #FloridaMan.

    2. jake Silver badge

      Re: The Joys of Democracy

      Florida is home to all the New York and New Jersey rejects. Kind of ups the anti somewhat.

      It's also home to people who think perpetually muggy is "good weather" ... people actually move there on purpose for this! Waterlogged brains are not prone to good decision making.

      And of course all the alcohol soaked students, there for the perpetual spring break. Tends to drop the IQ well below the national average.

      1. KittenHuffer Silver badge

        Re: The Joys of Democracy

        "Kind of ups the anti somewhat." - A Freudian slip if I ever saw one!

        'Up the ante' is the expression you were looking for. 'Up the anti' implies an increase in the negative, which for #FloridaMan actually fits quite well.

        1. jake Silver badge

          Re: The Joys of Democracy

          When you have to explain the joke ...

          1. KittenHuffer Silver badge

            Re: The Joys of Democracy

            The problem with typed jokes is that the delivery is always two dimensional! Makes it difficult two tell witch speeling mistooks argh on porpoise!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The Joys of Democracy

        The presence of students lowers the IQ? To below the national average? That's not a good advert for your country's universities!

  4. RockBurner

    "before taking a second to retrieve his own hand"

    Congratulations on the click-bait line - I wasn't going to watch the video but was intrigued to find out how a man with a false hand wrestled an alligator.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: "before taking a second to retrieve his own hand"

      Don't take artificial hands too lightly. I had a murder case where one of the weapons was an artificial hand.

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: "before taking a second to retrieve his own hand"

        Unpremeditated crimes by unarmed perps usually involve whatever’s to hand.

  5. Tom 38

    Australia also has dropbears

    These are far more deadly than people think.

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Australia also has dropbears

      These are far more deadly than people think.

      And also very skillful at avoiding CCTV cameras.

  6. MOH

    My first reaction on seeing the headline was "Again?". This sounds oddly familiar.

    Nice to see Gunner sticking around to help after being rescued.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "you should know the phenomenon of Florida Man may have arisen because it has really good public records laws."

    Plus Meth! Don't forget meth!

  8. Zarno
    Pint

    I don't mind alligator.

    Gator tail tastes like the love child of a chicken and a fish.

    Really good fried popcorn style, washed down with a cold beer on a floating restaurant.

    Glad the pup and owner got through relatively safe!

    Icon because that gator would be on the bbq or in the fryer, with need of a few to wash it down...

  9. Arctic fox
    Happy

    What really impressed me was that during all this the gentleman...........

    ............never once dropped his cigar!

  10. jake Silver badge

    What did the dude expect, walking his pup close to the water?

    Down in Louisiana they call that "idiot fishing for 'gators".

    1. bill 27

      Re: What did the dude expect, walking his pup close to the water?

      And in Alaska we call people walking small animals trolling for eagles.

      As an aside, when I read about this elsewhere they quoted the guy as saying that from here on out the pup would be on a leash. I thought, like you'll ever get that dog near water again. I once had a Black Lab that would run in panic when suddenly faced with an open body of water.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Childcatcher

        Re: What did the dude expect, walking his pup close to the water?

        And in Britain ... errr ... errr ...

        OK the seagulls can be a bit of a pest, oh and I saw a crow batter a starling out of the sky and munch on it today, which nearly made me swallow my monocle.

        It's all about perspective. If you were that starling then no amount of Florida swamp tomfoolery would convince you that Australia is safe for human consumption.

        1. bill 27

          Re: What did the dude expect, walking his pup close to the water?

          Well...we did have a raven chase the cat up the stairs trying to corner it for lunch.

          1. David 132 Silver badge
            Coat

            Re: What did the dude expect, walking his pup close to the water?

            My immediate reaction to that is amazement, and wanting to see a visual record.

            Or more informally: “Cor! Vid?”

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I also read an article elsewhere today covering concern being raised about an increaing nunber of "animal resued" videos on YouTube where it appears animails are deliberately left to caught by predators like snames etc so that they can be "rescued" with the "rescue" captured on video and uploaded to YouTube with the "rescuers" cashing in on the adverising kick-backs from YouTube. Hmmm ....

  12. The Count Is Dead
    Joke

    In the whole article

    Not one mention he did it all with dropping his cigar. Disgraceful journalism.

  13. hekla

    Australia has crocodiles over 100k of them

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-24/nt-charles-darwin-university-study-crocodile-number-spike/12911282

    1. Wade Burchette

      Re: Australia has crocodiles over 100k of them

      Florida has crocodiles too, although less of them. One of the key differences between an alligator and a crocodile is that alligators are more tolerant of cold. In fact, alligators can even hibernate if it gets cold enough. One particular cold month in southern North Carolina, the northern extent of the alligator's year-round range, the lakes and ponds froze over. The alligators in the area were hibernating in the water with just the snout above the frozen water. It was quite interesting, seeing pictures of a snout just above iced over water. Crocodiles would die in that cold weather.

  14. _LC_
    Unhappy

    There goes another puppy

    Each year, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized (670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats) in the USA.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: There goes another puppy

      Off topic, but I'll bite ...

      Are you volunteering to keep them housed, fed, watered and vetted? I thought not.

      I do my part by encouraging spaying and neutering. It's not my fault that the idiots don't want to hear it. "It's just one litter! Puppies from Fluffy will be so cute!" is the common refrain, as they allow little Fluffy to breed with any mongrel that comes sniffing around. Fluffy's owner is usually the same moron who gets all sad about the amount of euthanasias per year ... The hypocrisy and ignorance among this set is dreadful.

      1. _LC_
        Headmaster

        Re: There goes another puppy

        That's the whole point. It is more difficult to save those puppies from human beings than it is prying them out of the fangs of an alligator. Nice story, but there should be stories about the puppies getting gassed, with pictures. Maybe every month, at the least. But ... that doesn't sell. Ergo, screw the puppies!

        It's called hypocrisy.

  15. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Big Brother

    FOI?

    The British government is operating a secretive internal unit to block requests for information by the public under transparency laws, it has been revealed.

    The FOI Clearing House, an "Orwellian" operation within Michael Gove's Cabinet Office, shares personal information about journalists and researchers and has been accused of "blacklisting" people making freedom of information requests.

    Freedom of information requests are supposed to be "applicant blind", meaning they do not discriminate against the person filing them – but staff at the unit have been caught out singling out individual researchers and journalists.

    In open internal email seen by the website, they wrote: “Just flagging that X is a journalist” and “once the response is confirmed, I’ll just need [redacted] to sign off on this before it goes out, since X is a reporter for openDemocracy”.

    Quelle surprise

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/freedom-of-information-foi-clearing-house-b1760830.html

    1. _LC_
      Boffin

      Re: FOI?

      "Quelle" is German. The word you were looking for is "source".

      They do the same in Germany. Haven't you noticed anything strange, lately?

      1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

        Re: FOI?

        C'est français

        1. _LC_
          Pint

          Re: FOI?

          It's called humor. ;-)

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