Alligator attacks dog, Orlando man reports; drags his pit bull into lake

[Baitball Blogger]

An alligator emerged from an Orlando lake Monday morning, attacked a pit bull and dragged it back into the water, the dog's owner told state wildlife officials.

Eric Mantral Glover was walking his 10-month-old pit bull around Deerock Park in west Orlando before the incident, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation spokesman Greg Workman said.

"He started throwing a stick into the lake for the pit bull to retrieve," Workman said.

Later, an alligator, estimated to be between 8 and 11 feet long, came out of the lake and attacked the dog, pulling it back into the water, Workman said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-alligator-eats-orlando-man-dog-20140901,0,309232.story

[Live and Learn]

1. Ugh, what a horrific thing to have happen. nt

[Peregrine]

2. In FL you do not screw around a lake

Kids, dogs, any thing small that are near a lake become targets

[QC]

3. They pulled an 8 foot gator out of a retention pond

behind a nearby Wal-Mart not long ago. That's very near to the parking lot and a housing development.

Around here you should assume that any body of fresh water might have gators in it.

[lpbk2713]

4. I grew up on a Central Florida lake out in the country.

It wasn't that unusual to see a gator and a moccasin swimming just minutes apart.

Back then people knew better than to feed gators. Now it's a fun thing to do.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Alligators live in Florida. People need to respect that fact.

And keep their pets away from lakes.

It's not the alligator's fault that it's a carnivorous predator.

[tazkcmo]

6. Or the puppies

For being a tasty morsel.

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. "He started throwing a stick into the lake for the pit bull to retrieve"

Yeah, that works out well in Florida.

[xfundy]

8. Wonder how long till they migrate north.

Plans and other animals are doing it. Just a matter of time, I guess.

[d_r]

9. is it just me

or is that a horrible job on the headline? It sounds to me like the alligator attacked, then the man reported it, then the man drug his pit bull in to the lake.

And yeah, assume any water in Florida has a gator in it, but most times they are smaller. I've always heard that in the spring and summer the males go looking for mates and wonder around out of the water more and so they spread basically everywhere there's water. And they go way farther north in to Alabama and Georgia, (and of course Mississippi and Louisiana) I've seen one in Lake Wheeler, which is part of the Tennessee River in very north Alabama. Texas, Arkansas, the Carolinas, Virginia, all can have alligators. Every once in a while somebody sees one in Tennessee. They just caught the world record one in Alabama http://www.al.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2014/08/its_official_mandy_stokess_all.html