A quiet walk beside the pond behind his home nearly cost Richard Wilbanks his three month old puppy in the blink of an eye.
The 74 year old Florida retiree was out walking near a pond on his property when an alligator suddenly launched out of the water and grabbed his Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy, Gunner.
“We were just out walking by the pond, and it came out of the water like a missile,” Wilbanks told CNN. “I never thought an alligator could be that fast. It was so quick.”
Without a second of hesitation, Wilbanks jumped straight into the water after his puppy.
The dramatic moment was captured on surveillance cameras set up in the area through a partnership between the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fStop Foundation, and the footage would later go viral, showing Wilbanks diving underwater to physically pry open the alligator’s jaws to free his whimpering pup.
It wasn’t easy. “He had one little puncture wound and I had, my hands were just chewed up,” Wilbanks told KHOU-11, describing just how difficult it was to force the reptile’s jaws apart.
Both Wilbanks and Gunner made it out of the encounter alive. Gunner recovered after a trip to the veterinarian, while Wilbanks received a tetanus shot to treat his injured hands.
As the footage spread across social media, viewers praised the retiree’s split second courage, with many calling it nothing short of heroic.
Since the incident, Wilbanks says he’s taking extra precautions on their walks, now keeping Gunner on a leash at all times and staying at least 10 feet away from the water’s edge.
It’s a powerful reminder that even the calmest looking pond can hide real danger, and that some people will risk everything without a second thought when the ones they love are in trouble.
Would you have the courage to jump in and do the same for your pet?
Source:
1. nypost – “Florida man pries open alligator’s jaws to save his dog’s life”
2. ndtv – “Man Jumps Into Water, Pries Open Jaws Of An Alligator To Rescue Dog”