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You are here: Home / Archives for Nature & Respite / Lizard Blogging

Lizard Blogging

Florida Man Does Something Good!

by Adam L Silverman|  November 23, 202010:08 pm| 150 Comments

This post is in: Faunasphere, Lizard Blogging, Nature, Nature & Respite, Open Threads, Something Good Open Thread

saved the puppy from getting eaten by an alligator and never dropped his cigar, a true legend pic.twitter.com/ryRSfZqOsy

— juan vidal (@itsjuanlove) November 22, 2020

Florida Man saves his puppy from a gator!

Don’t even think about messing with this Florida man’s puppy.

Richard Wilbanks, 74, acted swiftly when his 3-month-old pup Gunner was snatched by an alligator in the backyard pond of his home in Estero, near South Florida’s Gulf Coast.

In a stunning video, Wilbanks wrestles the young gator in waist-deep water, bringing it above the surface and prying open its jaws to release the King Charles Cavalier spaniel.

“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.”

Acting on adrenaline or instinct, Wilbanks said he just “automatically jumped into the water.”

He said he sustained some injuries to his hands and went to the doctor for a tetanus shot to be safe.

Gunner had one small puncture wound to his belly, but is doing fine after a trip to the vet, Wilbanks said.

Wilbanks told WINK News that he understands this is the alligator’s home and does not want it removed from the pond. He urged other pet owners to keep their animals away from the water’s edge.

The dramatic encounter was caught on camera thanks to a partnership between the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fSTOP Foundation as part of a campaign called “Sharing the Landscape.” Its mission is to help the community understand and appreciate the wildlife they live near and help reduce conflicts.

Meredith Budd, the regional policy director of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said the cameras typically capture videos of deer or bobcats. It’s not often they catch something like what Wilbanks and Gunner went through.

“We live on a shared landscape,” Budd said. “We don’t just want to tolerate wildlife, but, rather, we want to thrive with wildlife on a shared landscape.”

Louise Wilbanks, Richard’s wife, told WINK the incident has given them a new appreciation for the wildlife near their homes.

“We do need to be aware they are wild animals. They’re not here for our benefit. We’re very lucky to share this space with them,” she said.

Here’s a bit more video with some reporting:

As a native Floridian who grew up on a salt water canal that fed into Tampa Bay, but has also lived in areas of the state with lakes, retention ponds, and cypress swamp and scrub just outside my doors – front and back – one of the things you learn is that gators can be anywhere. And that they’re fast, very, very fast. When I’m out with the dogs near water, even if it is just low lying scrub that has filled up because of rain to form a pond, I keep eyes on the water and my ears focused on any movement in it and along its edges. Day or night!

And Gunner is a very good and very lucky boy!

Open thread!

 

Florida Man Does Something Good!Post + Comments (150)

Floriduh! Man Never Takes a Day Off! Even During a Pandemic!

by Adam L Silverman|  April 9, 202011:03 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: Faunasphere, Humorous, Lizard Blogging, Nature, Nature & Respite, Open Threads

From WPTV Channel 5 in West Palm Beach:

Florida authorities tracking a stolen car also discovered heroin, cocaine, guns and a baby alligator when they went to make an arrest.

Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma announced details of the bust at a news conference Friday.

He said a deputy ran the plates on a car, learned it was stolen and followed it to a Lake Mary house.

That’s where deputies found the drugs and a baby alligator that was being kept as a pet.

Since it is Floriduh!, I can pretty much guarantee that the baby alligator will be charged and tried as an adult!

Open thread!

Floriduh! Man Never Takes a Day Off! Even During a Pandemic!Post + Comments (32)

Late Night Open Thread: Well, That Explains Tuesday…

by Anne Laurie|  August 15, 20181:59 am| 27 Comments

This post is in: Election 2018, Grifters Gonna Grift, I Can No Longer Rationally Discuss The Sanders Campaign, Lizard Blogging, Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel, Assholes, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All

Happy #WorldLizardDay! pic.twitter.com/gI0J6w3nJ0

— Jen Moss (@moss_etal) August 14, 2018

Living Colour wrote a song about guys like this. https://t.co/3lBqX30glq

— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) August 14, 2018

2020 Iowa Caucus-Avenatti comes out wearing a short, yellow, skin-tight onesie with a leather jacket. Bernie is wearing a tank top and Zubaz pants.

— Forsetti X (@ForsettisCreed) August 15, 2018

 
… but this was Monday:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Trump voters are allegedly motivated by their resentment against the disdain and contempt they get from coastal elites, but coastal elites didn’t actually have so low an opinion of them as to expect things like this. pic.twitter.com/AAtCh03IzQ

— Jacob T. Levy (@jtlevy) August 13, 2018

Uday & Qusay also had their admirers. https://t.co/l5gE55DyO1

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 13, 2018

Is prison librarian an office? https://t.co/k6DHmUlW6a

— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) August 13, 2018

Note the difference in tone between this speculation and that over Chelsea Clinton. https://t.co/WjsEEmqLdv

— Donna Gratehouse (@DonnaDiva) August 13, 2018

Late Night Open Thread: Well, That Explains Tuesday…Post + Comments (27)

Florida Iguana! Wait, What?

by Adam L Silverman|  June 25, 201811:53 pm| 100 Comments

This post is in: America, Faunasphere, Lizard Blogging, Open Threads

Well you don’t see this every day!

Iguana fight: Only in South Florida would you see two massive iguanas facing off in a Starbucks parking lot!

STORY: https://t.co/itMzQTgCV4

(Video: Shannon Moskoff) pic.twitter.com/W4xyimUMuo

— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) June 25, 2018

From WSVN 7 News in Miami:

A South Florida woman says she was shocked when she spotted two iguanas duking it out in the parking lot of a Starbucks in Boca Raton over the weekend.

Shannon Moskoff captured video that shows the large reptiles fighting for over a minute, as she and a friend try to figure out what is happening.

Moskoff says that she didn’t know how the fight ended since other cars were behind her.

Open thread!

 

Florida Iguana! Wait, What?Post + Comments (100)

TGIF Open Thread: Lizard Edition

by Betty Cracker|  March 10, 201710:21 am| 234 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Lizard Blogging, Open Threads

Here’s a lizard sunning on a painted bamboo:

Didn’t have my camera handy, so please excuse the poor quality iPhone photo. It’s amazing how quickly one becomes a camera snob! Unfortunately, my offspring’s entire childhood is documented with crappy phone camera photos. I suppose that’ll be her version of my “look at all these crappy Polaroids from the 70s!”

Open thread!

PS: There’s actually an existing tag for “Lizard Blogging!” Cole is right; we have too damn many tags!

TGIF Open Thread: Lizard EditionPost + Comments (234)

I Don’t Have to Outrun the Bull Alligator, I Just Have to Outrun You

by Adam L Silverman|  January 17, 201710:40 pm| 143 Comments

This post is in: America, Because of wow., Faunasphere, Lizard Blogging, Open Threads, WTF?

This wee fellow was caught on video near Lakeland, FL yesterday.

This truly massive alligator was spotted casually walking across a path in Central Florida. The locals call it "Hunchback." pic.twitter.com/yRkXtuDU0K

— CNN (@CNN) January 16, 2017

That’s a big boy!

I Don’t Have to Outrun the Bull Alligator, I Just Have to Outrun YouPost + Comments (143)

Smile and Wave Boys, Smile and Wave: Dogs and Penguins Edition

by Adam L Silverman|  July 9, 20169:23 pm| 274 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Foreign Affairs, Lizard Blogging, Nature, Open Threads

A pair of Maremma Sheepdogs in Australia have become the protectors of a waddle of penguins Down Under.

These two dogs are an Australian penguin’s best friend — with skills that have saved as many as a two thousand birds in the last ten years.

Foxes had nearly decimated the population of ‘little penguins’ on Middle Island — killing nearly 200 a year.

But, since 2006 when Eudy and Tula started guarding the species, which is the smallest type of penguin in the world, there hasn’t been any evidence of a predator attack.

After the dogs started patrolling the island, the flock grew from a low of just 10 birds to more than 150 today.

It was a local chicken farmer, Swampy Marsh, who first suggested using the large, white Maremma sheep dogs as penguin guardians because they were so good at protecting his free range hens.

The community of Warrnambool sponsored the dogs’ training and still provides homes for them through the winter.

During the penguins’ mating season, the dogs patrol the island five days a week, spending their days off at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, where they meet visitors and help educate people about conservation.

(H/T: to a commenter in one of yesterday’s posts at Little Green Footballs)

And because its in the title:

Smile and Wave Boys, Smile and Wave: Dogs and Penguins EditionPost + Comments (274)

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