75-year-old man kicks alligator in the snout, saves dog

FLORIDA: A 75-year-old Florida man kicked an alligator in the snout after it attacked his dog, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Buddy Ackerman says the 8-foot (2.44-meter) gator came from a retention pond near his Palm Harbor condominium last week and grabbed the dog while they were out for an early morning walk.

He kicked the gator until it let go of the golden retriever. Neither animal was injured.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Florida wildlife officials came and trapped the gator later that day.

Buddy Ackerman was walking with Osi, a Golden Retriever when he noticed something happening in the pond behind his home.

“All of a sudden I see the water rippling right along in here,” he said. “Almost seemed like an explosion.”

That “explosion” was an alligator grabbing ahold of Osi, who happened to be in the middle of doing his business.

“He was squealing a good bit when the thing grabbed him,” Ackerman said.

Ackerman found himself in a tug of war over the pup with the 7 ft. 7 in. alligator.

“I go up and slip and fall on my rear end. And the two of us are tugging; alligator is going one way, I’m going the other,” he said.

Ackerman was finally able to get Osi loose after kicking the gator in the snout.

“The thing opened his mouth and backed up a little,” he said.

Osi doesn’t actually belong to Ackerman. The pup is his daughter’s and he was watching Osi while she was on vacation. He’s glad the dog wasn’t bite-sized.

“I don’t know what would have happened with people with little Pekingese or something running around,” he said. “I guess we’d say goodbye.”

Osi is sore but otherwise OK.

Trappers eventually pulled the alligator from the pond and took it away.