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Man loses 2 fingers saving dog from alligator attack
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David Grounds of West Palm Beach, Florida, was walking his seven year old wheaten terrier Mandy next to the pond behind his home yesterday morning when he saw the wake of an approaching alligator.
He tried screaming for Mandy, but the seven foot, two inch long alligator clamped onto Mandy’s midsection, with the squealing dog helpless as the alligator began thrashing.
Quick-thinking Grounds, 65, ran over, and grabbed the alligator’s mouth with his hands while poking it in its eye with his thumb.
“He was powerful,” Grounds said from his Palms West Hospital bed Saturday night.
The alligator relaxed its grip long enough for Mandy to be saved, but snapped at Grounds, catching part of his right index and ring fingers.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials were called, and later trapped and euthanized the attacking gator.
Grounds said he had no regrets about the rescue, calling his wounds “no big deal”, other than putting a cramp in his typing at work.
“I'd do it again,” he said, further stating there was no way he was going to let the alligator eat his dog.
Mandy was taken to Community Animal Hospital in Royal Palm Beach for treatment of a laceration to her stomach. She released from the veterinary hospital the same day. Grounds wasn’t quite as lucky. He has to remain at the people hospital for a couple days as a precaution against infection.
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