NORTH PORT, Fla. – A Florida man was bitten by an alligator after apparently mistaking it for a dog in the middle of the night.
WTSP reported earlier this week that a man in Sarasota County was walking outside the Warm Mineral Spring Motel in North Port just after midnight when he saw a figure moving in the dark.
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“He stated the figure appeared to look like a dog with a long leash, which is why he wasn’t hesitant to move out of the way,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson wrote in an email to WTSP.
Deputies said that’s when the alligator bit his right leg, ripping off a chunk of his muscle as he tried to escape.
The man was able to get the attention of a deputy who was in the area for an unrelated issue, and paramedics were called. The man was transported to a hospital.
The alligator was later captured and removed from the area.