Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Wife Uses Broom To Pry Gator Off Husband
wftv ^ | March 30, 2009

Posted on 03/30/2009 8:30:54 PM PDT by stainlessbanner

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Lake County man was attacked by an alligator inside his house Sunday night. The gator crawled through an open door and into the Florida room of the house on Lake Eustis Drive.

The man's wife and her friend used a broom handle to try and open the gator's mouth.

The house sits right along a canal and it wasn't much distance at all for the little alligator to climb out of the canal, under the gate and right through the back door.

"I saw him right here. Right here! That's when I turned around and went right back in," Elaine Gaff told Eyewitness News.

While it may be their Florida room, Elaine certainly didn't expect to find a alligator sitting in it Sunday night around 9:15.

"I actually panicked a little bit. And I said, 'There's a gator on the back porch!'" she said.

In the canal behind their home, the Gaffs see gators often enough, but Sunday night the gator must've smelled the food cooking and headed right inside.

"My girlfriend and I, we started brushing him away with a broom and we got him so far," Elaine said.

Once Elaine got the alligator to a back door, Jim Gaff rushed over to try and help out with his bare hands.

"So I just reached down and grabbed it by the tail and was reaching up to grab it by the head and I wasn't fast enough," Jim said.

The young, 3-foot gator swung his head around and took a nice, grown-up-sized bite into Jim's left arm.

"My girlfriend and I, we actually put the broom handle in the gator's mouth to pry it open," Elaine said.

"It didn't go deep. There's not a chunk missing. It just broke through the skin, bleeding and that was it," Jim said.

Jim might be playing it cool Monday, but they spent much of Sunday night in the emergency room cleaning the wound and loading up on antibiotics. Elaine, on the other hand, has learned her lesson.

"All the time. All the time. There's no way I'm keeping these doors open," Elaine said.

Florida Fish and Wildlife said that's probably a good rule, especially this time of year when gators are out.

The agency issued the Gaffs a warning. You're always supposed to call them in to remove a gator in a situation like this.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: alligator; broom; fl; gator
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041 next last

1 posted on 03/30/2009 8:30:54 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
The agency issued the Gaffs a warning.

for real?

2 posted on 03/30/2009 8:32:23 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

Lucky. Usually the spin once they clamp on. That generally rips the limb off your body.


3 posted on 03/30/2009 8:33:18 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

i woulda issued him a warning right back


4 posted on 03/30/2009 8:34:01 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
The agency issued the Gaffs a warning. You're always supposed to call them in to remove a gator in a situation like this.

Maybe before too long, we can remove gators at will and then the agency can be removed because it is no longer needed. I don't like that tone....

5 posted on 03/30/2009 8:34:19 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

“There’s not a chunk missing. It just broke through the skin, bleeding and that was it,”

“It’s just a flesh wound”

(Monty Python’s Black Knight)


6 posted on 03/30/2009 8:36:58 PM PDT by Batman11 ("Big ears isn't my President!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mamelukesabre

Like they are suposed to wait to get a wild animal off the arm. That’s just inane.


7 posted on 03/30/2009 8:38:03 PM PDT by Redcitizen (The Death Star is the ultimate in peacekeeping.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Kill it. Then call that jerk and tell him to come remove the stupid thing.


8 posted on 03/30/2009 8:39:57 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

Shudda shot the gator, skinned him, dressed him out and fried him up.

To hell with calling the gubmint. They’re not here to help.


9 posted on 03/30/2009 8:42:16 PM PDT by garyhope (It's world war IV, right here, right now courtesy of Islam. VRWC. TWP.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

Visions of giving Fish and Wildlife a warning with the broom but that would probably end with jail.

There’s a reason our cat is now an indoor cat. She kept bringing trophies into the living room. The last one was a live snake that had wrapped itself around her several times. When I got it off her, I beat it to a pulp with an old cast iron skillet.


10 posted on 03/30/2009 8:45:42 PM PDT by bgill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mamelukesabre

Hell no, kill the thing and fire up the BBQ, alligator is actually quite delicious.


11 posted on 03/30/2009 8:49:44 PM PDT by padre35 (You shall not ignore the laws of God, the Market, the Jungle, and Reciprocity Rm10.10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: garyhope

They probably called 911, and the cop that always follows the paramedics calls Fish and Wildlife when he hears the victim’s story....


12 posted on 03/30/2009 8:50:15 PM PDT by Frank_2001
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: padre35

Oh. Well, then call the jerk after that and tell him to stay off your dam property!


13 posted on 03/30/2009 8:52:25 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: padre35
Hell no, kill the thing and fire up the BBQ, alligator is actually quite delicious.

The guests are arriving.


14 posted on 03/30/2009 8:55:02 PM PDT by Dumpster Baby (The chair is against the wall. John has a long mustache.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: mamelukesabre

Skin him, Saute’ him, and shut up...

Heck Florida has the Castle Doctrine, stand bye to cook up some gator...someone mentioned deep fried, but roasted/BBQ is great as well.


15 posted on 03/30/2009 8:55:04 PM PDT by padre35 (You shall not ignore the laws of God, the Market, the Jungle, and Reciprocity Rm10.10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Dumpster Baby

And they’ve dressed for dinner.


16 posted on 03/30/2009 8:55:53 PM PDT by padre35 (You shall not ignore the laws of God, the Market, the Jungle, and Reciprocity Rm10.10)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Dumpster Baby

Land Shark!


17 posted on 03/30/2009 8:59:44 PM PDT by Batman11 ("Big ears isn't my President!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner

...and to think that I mind when the deer eat our shrubs. You people in Florida have fing dinosaurs walking around. Tough neighborhood!


18 posted on 03/30/2009 9:05:46 PM PDT by Batman11 ("Big ears isn't my President!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: mamelukesabre

“Usually the spin once they clamp on.”

They spin when they are in the water not when they are on land; they can’t swim in the air.


20 posted on 03/30/2009 9:17:38 PM PDT by Rembrandt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson