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A dog was saved from death by its owner after being captured by an alligator and taken to the bottom of a lake. The dramatic encounter took place in the US state of Florida and was captured by the video surveillance cameras that were at the scene.
The images, shared by the North American media, show Richard Wilbanks, 74, in the water trying to keep his 3-month-old dog away from the mouth of a small alligator.
In an interview with CNN, the American says he was walking by the lake with Gunner, a cavalier king charles spaniel, when the crocodile appeared “like a missile.” “I never imagined that an alligator could be so fast,” he reveals, confessing that he does not know if it was adrenaline or instinct that led him to jump into the water.
The man explains that catching the reptile was not as difficult as trying to open the animal’s mouth. Richard Wilbanks’ hands were injured and he had to be taken to hospital to receive a tetanus shot. Gunner, for his part, had to get a point on his belly, where he was injured by the crocodile’s teeth.
Despite the fright, the man does not want the animal to be taken out of the lake or killed. “They are part of nature and of our life,” he explains.
Richard Wilbank continues to walk Gunner, but now on a leash and more than 3 meters from the lake, in order to prevent the accident from happening again.
