When Walter Rudder told a local news station about the scary event, “We pulled over, and I got out of the car and saw that an alligator had him by the leg,”
A man in Florida hit an 11-foot alligator with his truck to protect his friend from a dangerous attack.
WBBH-TV says the event happened in Collier County on the night of Friday, April 19, while Rick Fingeret was walking his two dogs near a pond.
Walt Rudder, his neighbor, told the news source, “I was driving, and we saw a man lying on the ground waving his arm.”
The driver told the news station, “We pulled over, and I got out of the car and saw that an alligator had him by the leg.”
WLBT says Fingeret “begged him to run over the alligator in the hopes that it would free its jaws from around his leg.” The alligator then went back to the water, and Rudder was taken to the hospital, where he is now getting better.
Fingeret told the news source that he “doesn’t know what would have happened had his neighbor not stepped in.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) told people on Instagram on Monday to stay away from wildlife when they see it.
“Don’t push yourself to race animals to see how fast you can run. Remember that the animal has been training for this its whole life, whether it’s a snake, a hog, or a very scary squirrel. That group said, “You have not.”
As per the FWC, “In general, if an animal is reacting to your presence, it’s a sure sign you’re too close.”
According to the group, animals have “their own version of a comfort zone,” which is why “maintaining a respectful distance is key to both your safety and the well-being of any other animals involved.”
On its website, the group says this about alligators: “alligators are opportunistic feeders.”
The page also says, “their diets include a lot of different species of easy-to-reach prey.” Alligators as young as one year old mostly eat bugs, frogs, small fish, and other animals. Alligator adults eat snakes, turtles, birds, small mammals, and rough fish.
