The man, undaunted, leaped into the water and began to punch the gator in the face. Once, twice, three times. Then he grabbed the pooch and yanked mightily. Out it came from the stunned predator's jaws, and the man quickly scampered out with the pup in hand.
Amazingly, the alligator did not pursue either his mistakenly judged easy prey or his disconcerting attacker. No doubt it just floated there, stunned that a usually obliging human would punch it into submission.
The dog, which was hardly breathing at the time of its rescue, was, after a few stitches and pets at the vet, back to its bouncy self.
The gator basher seemed quite jovial about treating the toothy challenger like a punching bag.
