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Richard Wilbanks, 74, of Estero ran into his backyard pond, wrestled the alligator above the surface and opened his jaws to free Gunner, his Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
“We were just walking by the pond,” Wilbanks told CNN, “and it came out of the water like a missile. I never thought an alligator could be so fast. C ‘was so fast. “
He said the adrenaline or instinct kicked in, and “I automatically jumped into the water.”
Holding the alligator wasn’t that difficult, but opening the jaws was “extremely difficult,” he said.
Wilbanks said his hands were “chewed” and he went to a doctor for a tetanus vaccine.
Gunner had a puncture wound in his stomach and did well after a trip to the vet’s office.
The rescue south of Fort Myers was filmed due to a partnership between the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fSTOP Foundation.
Wilbanks agrees with this mission and he doesn’t want the alligator removed from the pond or destroyed.
“They are a part of nature and of our lives,” he said.
He always takes Gunner on foot, but he keeps the puppy on a leash – and 10 feet from the edge of the pond. “Our pets are like family to us,” he says.
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