Man who lost hand to alligator charged with unlawful feeding

[madinmaryland]

Talk about adding insult to injury: An Everglades tour guide who lost his hand to an alligator last month was arrested over the weekend, charged with unlawful alligator feeding.

Wallace Weatherholt, a 63-year-old airboat captain, was leading a tour on June 12 when the group encountered a 9-foot alligator. Passengers told the Fort Myers News-Press that Weatherholt "hung a fish over the side of the boat and had his hand at the water's surface when the alligator attacked."

Wildlife officials then tracked and killed the alligator, according to the paper. They "retrieved Weatherholt's hand from its stomach, but doctors were unable to reattach it."

Weatherholt was charged with unlawful feeding, a second-degree misdemeanor, on Friday. He posted $1,000 and was released from Collier County Jail.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/man-hand-gator-charged-feeding-151153914.html?fb_action_ids=489644701063577%2C489606811067366&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_ref=type%3Aread%2Cuser%3AA_xJoWghpMfF3kKMSBREleeZGQo&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%22489644701063577%22%3A10150996836410787%2C%22489606811067366%22%3A10151002015583731}&action_type_map={%22489644701063577%22%3A%22news.reads%22%2C%22489606811067366%22%3A%22news.reads%22}&action_ref_map={%22489644701063577%22%3A%22type%3Aread%2Cuser%3AA_xJoWghpMfF3kKMSBREleeZGQo%22%2C%22489606811067366%22%3A%22type%3Aread%2Cuser%3AA_xJoWghpMfF3kKMSBREleeZGQo%22}&code=AQBRz1sAJupPF7Dq51QZaOJ2A81P7WqrZV5vPRz2YVx2jRDb7WBpUeDrYD0hElgmyHEqDZqbVjTc12Bigodiq4somO_bqD1lLeLaK5m3bogtlvyW-XC7UzBQNWEMB-nRXHKWKHx_oKjA2XOhqGtZ5l5JrIaxtIPjXABODzI3brpBEtlyd2f2K8HbGs9pO8_Lqw-lxturjnXgNIYDj5K1eO28#_=_

[valerief]

1. Rick Scott's Florida. Kick 'em when they're down. nt

[NYC_SKP]

2. 63-year old native, and a tour guide, must have known better, didn't care.

What a jackass.

[rug]

3. Maybe he shouldn't have fed the gator his hand.

[ohiosmith]

4. Do gators think people taste like chicken?

[madinmaryland]

5. Chicken fingers? Wonder if they would be better with corn flakes??

[ohiosmith]

6. Hi Oooo!

[Kaleva]

7. C'Mon! Let's not risk getting another ban on chicken discussions!

[nolabear]

8. Baiting those gators for tourists is common practice.

Sometimes ends really badly for the gator. I hope this one gets off on "It's a GATOR, you dumbass!" grounds.

As for Wally, it'll be the best thing that ever happened to his business and he'll never have to buy another beer as long as he lives. Trust me on this one.

[Ron Obvious]

9. Hasn't he been punished enough?

What's the point of an additional fine in this case? I don't think he'll be doing it again.

I don't get the logic and rigidity of the American justice system sometimes. Similarly, when I read of a mother who, through negligence, caused her child to die, I really wonder why an additional sentence needs to be imposed and why everybody else seems to think that it should. Surely, unless the woman is an uncaring sociopath, she's already been punished in the worst possible way? It won't be the additional sentence that has any effect of deterrence whatsoever, which was presumably the point of the punishment.

Maybe it's just me.

[JBoy]

10. And now he can't play on the PGA tour..

[KamaAina]

11. I guess the hand wasn't USDA-inspected