Sunday 22 May 2011

Man saves dog from alligator - upi.com

22 May 2011

PALM BEACH, Fla., May 22 (UPI) -- A retired Florida construction worker says his lifetime of hard work gave him the strength needed to pull his dog out of an alligator's jaws.

Gary Murphy, 72, told TCPalm.com he isn't a hero. "I just wanted my dog back."

Murphy was working on a boat Thursday when he saw his 11-year-old West Highland White Terrier in the jaws of an alligator. He immediately jumped on the gator's back and hit it on the head until it released the dog.

"It was like landing on a pile of rocks," he said about jumping on the alligator. "If your kid was in the water with its head in a gator's mouth, what would you do?"

When the alligator released the dog, Murphy scooped it up and ran inside his home. He took the dog to an animal hospital the next day, where it was treated for a compressed lung and cuts and puncture wounds to its back and stomach.

Murphy said his healthy lifestyle and having a background in construction gave him the strength to rescue his dog.

Murphy said his wife, who was out of town when the incident happened, asked him a single question.

"Are you nuts?" she asked.


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