Replies

No, but why would he drag it first and then shoot it? Sounds unnecessarily cruel to me.

If he shot it right there in the middle of the street, the residents would be screaming about him using a gun...IN FRONT OF CHILDREN!

How would you convince a 9 foot gator to move?

Being from the Big Easy in the Deep South, I can tell you that was one dangerous gator. Gators that size are fearless, they will attack anything, on impulse - gators don't think before they attack, they just attack.

You don't try to capture an alligator that size, too dangerous. He should have shot it dead where he found it, and then dragged it off.

That's what we do with ones half that size, that find their way into the suburbs through the drainage canals. Gators that size will take small pets. Gators the size of the one in this article takes anything they want.

A gator's most dangerous trait is that they seem docile and lumbering, but in a micro second can be in your face. It's shocking the first time you see a gator go from being a log, to lunging out of the water where all you see is teeth.

To hell with that gator. Although, they are tasty fried or with a sauce piquant.

No, but why would he drag it first and then shoot it? Sounds unnecessarily cruel to me.

I concur. Though the gator is not an animal to be trifled with (indeed, it is a dangerous beast), dragging an animal -- any animal -- is cruel.

I totally understand the need to destroy the animal, but the guy went about it the wrong way. That he did it in full view of people who don't understand the need for the animal's destruction has only complicated the matter.

-Jay

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/850826/posts

Woman loses arm in alligator attack
CNN ^ | Monday, February 24, 2003 Posted: 1:51 PM EST (1851 GMT)

Posted on 02/24/2003 1:56 PM PST by RoughDobermann

Animal shot; Arm recovered for attempt at reattachment

ENGLEWOOD, Florida (AP) -- A 70-year-old woman was in fair condition Monday after an alligator ripped off part of her arm as she trimmed brush outside her condo, officials said.

The 8-foot 3-inch alligator latched on to Helena Couto's arm just below the elbow Sunday and tried to drag her into a nearby pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

She was saved by a resident who managed to pull her away, More said.

"A neighbor came to the rescue and had her by the legs," he said.

A deputy shot and killed the alligator.

Wildlife commission officials cut into the alligator and retrieved the arm, which was then flown to Tampa General Hospital where Couto was awaiting surgery to reattach it, Charlotte County spokesman Robert Carpenter said.

Hospital spokeswoman Ellen Fiss wouldn't say Monday whether the surgery was successful.

This alligator was not 9' long.