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A man in Naples, Florida is being heralded as a hero after saving his neighbor from an alligator attack.
Walter Rudder was near The Quarry off Immokalee Road (Collier County) when he saw his neighbor, Rick Fingeret, on the ground frantically waving for help, and then quickly noticed that an alligator had bitten him on the leg and latched on.
The victim was on the ground fighting back, poking the alligator in the eyes and nose but the gator wouldn’t unlatch…
Not until quick-thinking Walter Rudder revved up his car and ran the alligator over. His thought was that the force from being run over would shock the alligator into releasing its jaws and let the victim go and it worked!
Rick Fingeret was out walking his two dogs when it happened and he told NBC2 that his two labs never left his side while the alligator was attacking, though the dogs themselves weren’t able to stop the attack from happening.
What’s wild to me is Walter Rudder was driving by, saw the attack, got out of his car to help, then had the foresight to get back in his car and run the alligator over and save his neighbor.
Also, NBC2 reports that FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) was able to find the alligator and relocate it which doesn’t make a lot of sense as an alligator attacking a human is the utmost definition of ‘Nuisance Alligator‘ in Florida, unless it was under 4ft which it doesn’t sound like it was though no length is given.
Are alligator attacks on the rise?
Alligator attacks on humans are extremely rare. There have been around 450 of them in Florida since data was first kept in 1948. Of those, 30 were fatal.
Even still, I wrote about a story earlier that blew my mind. This story from Naples, Florida just to the south of where I live in Florida pales in comparison to the story of Will Georgitis in South Carolina. He was attacked while diving for sharks teeth and tried to rip his own arm off while 50ft below the surface of a river near Charleston in order to survive.
He shared his story in a video which you can see here, it might be the wildest alligator attack story I’ve ever heard.