Kicker - Florida man versus gator

NICK EICHER, HOST: As a former Army staff sergeant, Trent Tweddale is trained for combat, but he never thought he’d find himself in a fistfight with an alligator.

Tweddale was walking his dog on his farm north of Tampa, Florida when the nature walk took an unexpected turn. 

His 6-year-old rescue pup, Loki, dipped his front paws in a creek and moments later his master was literally fighting for his dog’s life.

Audio here from TV station WFLA …

TWEDDALE: I grabbed the dog’s collar to try to pull him back and wound up in a tug of war match with this gator and the gator was not letting go.  So I let go of the collar and started pounding on the gator’s head until he eventually let go.

He let go, but not before nearly severing the dog’s leg. Loki’s alive and well after surgery and has a good chance of regaining full use of the leg.

As for his owner, he’s got a message for the next gator lying in wait…

TWEDDALE: We love our dog a lot and I’d fight tooth and nail for him.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/WFLA)

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