What happened to the man who saved his Wheaten terrier from an alligator attack?
A West Palm Beach man and his dog were attacked by an alligator while on an early-morning walk Saturday. David Grounds lost two fingers from his right hand while trying to protect his dog when the alligator bit him. The 66-year-old is recovering at Palms West Hospital. Investigators with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Grounds let his dog out unleashed in his waterfront back yard. Grounds told FWC investigators that he watched as his dog, a Wheaton terrier, went right to the water’s edge. At that point, an alligator grabbed his dog, Grounds said. As he was trying to rescue his dog, the alligator bit him on the hand. One finger was totally severed; the other was partially severed. Grounds told FWC investigators that he was aware of the alligator’s presence prior to the incident. Grounds’ dog was taken to Community Animal Hospital in Royal Palm Beach, for treatment of a laceration to its stomach. The dog is expected to survive. A trapper removed a 7-foot-2-inch
PALM BEACH COUNTY – David Grounds was walking his 7-year-old dog by the pond behind his home west of West Palm Beach on Saturday morning when he saw the wake of a 7-foot alligator approaching. He screamed for Mandy, a wheaten terrier, to get away but it was too late: the gator clamped down on Mandy’s midsection and the squealing dog was helpless as the alligator started thrashing. Grounds, 65, rushed over and grabbed the gator’s mouth with his hands while poking it in its eye with his thumb. “He was powerful,” Grounds said from his Palms West Hospital bed Saturday night. The gator released its grip and Mandy was saved. But then the gator snapped at Grounds, taking part of his right index and ring fingers. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials were called and trapped the gator in the 6300 block of North San Andros after the 7:30 a.m. attack. The 7-foot, 2-inch alligator was euthanized. Grounds, a civil engineer, said he had no regrets about the rescue, calling his
