Posted on 07/30/2008 7:26:47 PM PDT by BBell
St. Tammany Parish authorities caught and killed a large alligator that attacked an 11-year-old boy near Slidell Wednesday afternoon, slit open the animal's belly and retrieved the boy's arm that the gator had bitten off at the shoulder.
As soon as Devin Funck's arm was rescued from the stomach of the alligator, it was wrapped in a wet towel, stashed in an ice chest and rushed by a sheriff's deputy and a Slidell 1st District firefighter to Ochsner Medical Center, where the boy had been taken by helicopter two hours earlier.
Devin's condition was undetermined, but authories near Slidell were hopeful that the boy's arm, once recovered, could be surgically re-attached.
The alligator, measuring 10 feet, eight inches, attacked Devin as he swam with two friends in a lake near Kingspoint subdivision, southeast of Slidell, about 3 p.m.
The trio began swimming toward the shore when they saw the alligator approach, but it overtook Devin, bit him on the arm and dragged him underwater, Sheriff Jack Strain said.
The boy poked the gator in the eye and got free, relatives said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
The gator is dragged away to a waiting trailer. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies and wildlife agents capture and kill a 10-foot-8-inch long alligator that bit the arm off an 11-year-old boy Wednesday, July 30, 2008, in a small lake south of Slidell.
The boy's arm is put in a red evidence bag and placed into an ice chest for transportation to the hospital.
No doubt the event happens with some degree of frequency eh.
Glad they got the kid’s arm back.
That said, shouldn’t this have happened 45 miles southeast of Thibodaux?
Over in Houma they've got them trained to hunt wild hogs ...
Sounds like Devin Funcked up
My son and I were heading to the hardware store this afternoon when we had two fire trucks blow by us heading in the direction of where this happened. At the time I had not heard about what happened. When we got on the interstate we saw more emergency vehicles heading south on I-10. I like to think we have quick responding and quick thinking authorities here.
No matter what the funckin topic
I took some pics of a ‘gator today. He was sitting just offshore in the intercoastal waterway (Gulf Shores, Ala).
Not a big one, only 4 maybe 5 feet long. I’m here on vacation.
I don’t live in gator territory, but wouldn’t it be very wise to just not swim in waters where gators are known to hang around?
Hope the kid has a good recovery.
Don’t care who we funckin offend.
Brave boy kept his wits about him and saved his own life.
If the gator had his own way the boy would have been imbedded in the mud at the bottom of the lake for a future snack.
I agree. That kid has guts.
I was reading the book “Lone Survivor” by Marcus Latrell, the one who survived. He talked about him and his twin brother wrestling alligators...they were from Texas.
Just crazy stuff.
There’s a lot of lakes around here that have no gators. Gators like to roam so where there wasn’t any one day there might be the next.
"The two girls who were with him ran for help and called 911. Three sheriff's deputies who were in the neighborhood on traffic patrol drove as far as they could toward the lake, then ran a final 1 1/2 miles to reach the boy, Strain said.
The deputies helped the boy out of the water, and he was taken by 4-wheeler to a staging area where an ambulance picked him up and transported him to Slidell Memorial Hospital."
Jerry Reed, Amos Moses Lyrics
Artist: Reed Jerry
Well Amos Moses was a Cajun,
He lived by himself in the swamp.
He hunted alligators for a livin,
He just knocked ‘em in the head with a stump.
The Louisiana law gonna get ya Amos
It ain’t legal hunting alligators down in the swamp, boy
Well everybody blames his old man,
For makin’ him mean as a snake,
When Amos Moses was a boy
His daddy would use him for alligator bait.
Tie a rope around his neck, and throw him in the swamp,
Alligator bit him in a Louisiana bayou
About 45 minutes southeast of Thibodeaux, Louisiana
Lived a man named Doc Milsap and his pretty wife Hanna
hey raised up a son who could eat up his weight in groceries,
Named him after a man of the cloth,
Called him Amos Moses
Well, the folks around south Louisiana
Said Amos was a hell of a man
He could trap the biggest, the meanest alligator
And just use one hand
That’s all he’s got left cause an alligator bit him
Left arm gone clean up to the elbow
Well the sheriff caught wind that Amos
Was in the swamp huntin’ alligator skins
So he snuck in the swamp, gonna getcha boy,
But he never come out again.
Well, I wonder where the Louisiana sheriff went to?
You can sure get lost in a Louisiana bayou!
About 45 minutes southeast of Thibodeaux, Louisiana
Lived a man named Doc Milsap and his pretty wife Hanna
They raised a son who could eat up his weight in groceries,
Named him after a man of the cloth,
Called him Amos Moses
“There’s a lot of lakes around here that have no gators. Gators like to roam so where there wasn’t any one day there might be the next.”
I think I’d stick to swimming pools, or maybe recreation park type lakes that are managed as public swimming areas with lifeguards and some plan to keep the gators out.
We seem to hear about more of these attacks lately. Seems like swimming in just any lake is about like letting the kids play out in a thunderstorm. They odds are good they won’t be struck by lightning.
uh, no.
The Honey Island Swamp isn’t too far from Slidell, a friend as his brother went hunting there all the time
It is the swamp. Parents need to keep their kids out of places gators will be found.
You are right everybody involved did all the right things to save this boy’s life. There were plenty of times in the course of events where someone might have panicked and he would have not made it.
But the critical point was when the gator grabbed him by the arm and dragged him under. If the boy had panicked and not immediately counter attacked there would have been little anyone could have done to save him.
The gator would have had victuals for the next week.
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