Tigre, The pit bull vs. Alligator
The 2-yr old pitbull named Tigre fought an alligator in Lake Hunter and survived.
Suffering several cuts on his left leg and couple of loose teeth, Tigre, whose name is Spanish for tiger, cheated an alligator of breakfast and is expected to recover.
It happened on 8:30 a.m. of Tuesday when Oscar Alarcon was walking Tigre along the west shore of Lake Hunter just south of downtown Lakeland.
The officials of Florida wildlife warned residents for years to keep their pets away from water bodies where alligators live, which is just about every one of them.
It was a lesson learned the hard way for Alarcon and Tigre, who waded a short distance into the lake and was suddenly grabbed by an alligator that Oscar approximated to be almost 6 feet long.
Vivian Rovelo, Alarcon’s wife, told the dog managed to fight his way loose, and Oscar was able to snag the Tigre’s leash and pull him to safety.
The dog was taken to Christina Animal Hospital. Alarcon was not injured.
Oscar said he had seen only small gators at the lake during his daily walks and didn’t realize larger gators lived there, too.
Vivian said she felt more warning signs should be put up around lakes to alert residents of the possible danger of gator attacks.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission publishes brochures on dealing with alligators because human confrontations with alligators and other wildlife have become more common as Florida has grown and residential development has spread into more areas of the state.