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Hooray! Miami Will Soon No Longer Ban Pit Bulls
Tag: Florida
Watch (If You Can) an Elderly Florida Man Pry His Dog from an Alligator
Dec. 19, 2020 Update: Gunner has been named a “deputy dog” by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. (His dog dad truly deserves to be co-honored, don’t you think?)
I don’t know 74-year-old Richard Wilbanks of Estero, Fla., but I do know this for sure: He will likely never, ever, ever, let his dog walk off-leash near his backyard pond again. That’s what he was doing when his little dog Gunner, a 3-month-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was snatched and dragged underwater by a small alligator.
“We were just out walking by the pond,” Wilbanks told CNN, “and it came out of the water like a missile. I never thought an alligator could be that fast. It was so quick.”
Wilbanks immediately sprang into action and was able to pry Gunner from the alligator’s jaws (even without dropping the cigar dangling from his mouth!). It took an agonizing 12 seconds, but Wilbanks and Gunner, amazingly, weren’t seriously injured. Gunner has recovered after being treated by a veterinarian for a puncture wound in his belly, Wilbanks told WINK. Wilbanks said his hands were chewed up and he had to get a tetanus shot.
The whole scary incident, which happened in late October, was captured on video, thanks to cameras placed on Wilbanks’ property by a partnership between the Florida Wildlife Federation and the nonprofit fStop Foundation in an effort to monitor local wildlife.
Wilbanks doesn’t blame the alligator for just doing what alligators do, and doesn’t want the critter to be removed or killed. “They’re part of nature and part of our lives,” he told CNN, adding that in the future, Gunner would only be walked on a leash at least 10 feet away from the pond.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) released a warning for pet parents following this incident, WINK reports. “We encourage everyone to take precautionary measures, particularly those who live or recreate near the water,” the FWC stated. “Dogs and cats are similar in size to the natural prey of alligators. Do not allow pets to swim, exercise or drink in or near waters that may contain alligators. Keep pets on a short leash and away from the water.”
Amen. Here’s the video, which is difficult to watch even though both Gunner and Wilbanks lived to tell/bark the story.
Other Dogs Saved by Their Owners from Alligators
Gunner wasn’t the first, and unfortunately won’t likely be the last, dog to be saved from an alligator by their owner. Here are two I’ve previously written about:
- Another elderly man, 75-year-old Buddy Ackerman of Palm Harbor, Fla., was walking Oso, his daughter’s Golden Retriever, on a retractable leash in July 2019 when an 8-foot-long alligator slithered out from a retention pond and snatched the dog. Ackerman immediately began kicking the gator’s snout, and Oso was released unharmed.
- In July 2015, 52-year-old Lori Beiswenger saved Hope, her 9-year-old Terrier mix, after the dog was snatched by an alligator on the Inverness, Fla., golf course she owns. Beiswenger pulled on the gator’s tail until it released her dog. Hope suffered a severed artery and other injuries, but recovered after surgery.
Photo: ABC7 News Bay Area/YouTube
Doggie Donuts: Yet Another Reason Not to Leave Your Pet Alone in Your Car
It’s never, ever, EVER a good idea to leave your dog alone in your car, whether it’s hot, cold or somewhere in between. Even on a relatively mild, 80-degree day, the temperature inside your vehicle can rise to over 100 degrees within just 10 minutes. Yikes.
And speaking of yikes, this week a big black dog named Max demonstrated yet another reason why you shouldn’t leave your dog alone in your car—even for a minute or two.
Max’s owner made a wrong turn on a cul-de-sac Thursday morning in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He apparently saw something on the street and got out of the car to investigate. Unfortunately, he left the motor running and closed the door. The door automatically locked.
Max probably freaked out a little. He stepped on the gear shift, putting the car in reverse. The sedan, with Max locked inside, began doing donuts…for nearly half an hour.
Anna Sobel, who lives across from the cul-de-sac, looked out her window when her three dogs began barking. “I saw the car going backwards in a circle,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “There was a dog in there the whole time. … It was turning and turning and turning in a perfect circle.”
Max’s owner had another car key, but its battery was dead.
At one point the sedan stopped circling and went backward up a lawn, hitting a mailbox and some garbage cans. With the car stopped, officers from the Port St. Lucie Police Department were able to unlock the door by entering the code on the door’s keypad.
I have to admit the video taken by Sabol on her cell phone made me laugh until I cried. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, although the sedan had some minor damage. A tragedy to truly cry over was thankfully avoided.
“They should give that dog a [driver’s] license,” Sabol told the Sun-Sentinel. “He drives better than some people I’ve seen on the roads here.”
Photo: WPBF 25 News/Facebook
Hero Pit Bull Dies after Protecting His Family from a Deadly Snake
Zeus, a 9-month-old Pit Bull, played in his Webster, Fla., yard last week as 10-year-old Oriley Richardson and his 11-year-old brother, Orion, cleaned the young dog’s water bowl.
Suddenly Zeus pounced on the ground near the boys and started attacking something. Oriley thought Zeus was playing with a rope.
But it wasn’t a rope. It was a venomous coral snake. These snakes, with red, yellow and black bands, live in the southeastern United States. According to National Geographic, this snake is “famous as much for its potent venom as for the many rhymes — ‘Red and yellow, kill a fellow; red and black, friend of Jack'”—created to help distinguish between coral snakes and other non-venomous snakes with similar skin patterns.
Zeus used his body to cover the coral snake, laying on top of it to prevent it from moving toward the boys.
The dog’s eyes looked “bugged out,” the children’s’ mother, Gina Richardson, told CNN. When they turned Zeus over, they saw he had bitten off the snake’s head — but not before the snake bit him four times.
Although the Richardson family rushed Zeus to an animal hospital and a veterinarian immediately gave him anti-venom medication, the hero dog died the next day.
“I just started bawling,” Richardson told CNN. “My kids woke up and heard me crying and then they too started crying. We were all an emotional wreck.”
What’s even more heartbreaking is that Zeus died on Oriley’s birthday. “He was a good boy and I loved him with all my heart,” Oriley told CNN. “I played with him all the time. I feel sad and I miss him.”
The vet bill for Zeus was $1,000. But the Richardson family doesn’t have to worry about paying it, thanks to donations to a GoFundMe fundraiser from animal lovers touched by the Pit Bull’s heroism.
That heroism is the one upside to this tragedy. Zeus has been making national headlines for saving the lives of those boys.
Their father, Gary Richardson, told CNN that Zeus was his best friend. “I’m torn between wanting to be happy that this situation has brought awareness to his breed and their kind and loving nature, and the sorrow of having lost him,” he said.
He told FOX 35 Orlando that although he’d had many different animals in his life, “Pit Bulls are the most loyal dog I know of.” (I agree wholeheartedly.)
Gina Richardson noted that if a Pit Bull is aggressive, “most likely, it’s because they weren’t treated right,” she told FOX 35 Orlando. “If you treat them right, they would give their life for you and I owe my son’s life to him.”
Rest in peace, Zeus, and thank you for being such a very good boy.
Florida Woman Arrested for Putting Unwanted Dog in the Trunk of Her Car
Earlier this week, Sara Perry of Cocoa, Fla., decided she no longer wanted Neptune, the Pit Bull mix she’d been neglecting. Did she do the right thing and try to find the emaciated dog a new, loving forever home?
Nope. Perry brought Neptune to a local animal shelter and told the staff to take him or euthanize him. An employee told her the shelter was full and they don’t euthanize unwanted dogs dumped there. Perry got angry and stormed off with Neptune. She took him back to her car, put him in the trunk — and drove off.
Fortunately, her heinous act was captured on video by a concerned witness. The shelter was able to see her license plate number in the video and contacted the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
Thanks to that witness’s video, authorities were able to locate Perry and Neptune. Sheriff Wayne Ivey said Neptune was taken to the Brevard County Animal Care Center. A veterinarian who examined Neptune said the dog was extremely malnourished and in very poor health.
Perry was arrested and charged with felony animal abuse “for the despicable way she treated this poor, helpless pet,” Ivey said. “I’m even more proud to share with you that I personally walked Perry into the Brevard County jail, which is exactly where she belongs.” Here, here, Sheriff Ivey!
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is working with Florida’s state attorney “to ensure Perry gets everything she deserves, to the full extent of the law,” Ivey said.
“If you harm an animal in Brevard County, we’ll put your butt straight in jail and do everything legally possible to make your life just as miserable as you made that pet’s life,” he added.
To reiterate, “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT IF YOU ABUSE AN ANIMAL IN BREVARD COUNTY YOU’RE GOING STRAIGHT TO JAIL,” the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post with the video. It has gone viral, with over 1.3 million views.
“Bitch” is a term used for female dogs, and it also certainly applies to Sara Perry. Here’s hoping she gets the book thrown at her. As Ivey said, someone with zero compassion “shouldn’t be allowed to own a plant, much less a pet.” And here’s hoping poor Neptune recovers and is adopted into the loving home he deserves.
On the disturbing subject of dogs in trunks, here’s a sad-but-true fact: In California, it’s legal to drive with your dog in the trunk of your car. In December 2015 a driver in Los Angeles was shocked to see two Huskies poke their heads out of the partially open trunk of the car in front of him.
The driver, who told a local news station she was only driving a short distance, was apparently not breaking any laws. California vehicle code 23117 simply requires that any animal that’s transported on highways in the back of a vehicle “in a space intended for any load” (the trunk or bed of a truck, for instance) to be “either cross-tethered to the vehicle or protected by a secured container or cage, to prevent the animal from falling, jumping, or being thrown from the vehicle.” The woman had tied a bungee cord to the trunk door to prevent it from opening all the way.
The ASPCA and the LAPD Animal Cruelty Task Force investigated the incident. Believe it or not, the woman wasn’t charged with animal cruelty or endangerment. Still, all you dog owners in California, there are much safer ways to transport your pet…inside your vehicle.
Photos: Brevard Sheriff/YouTube