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Trapper Catches Gator That Nearly Caught Dog

TBO.com photo by Beth Gaddis

It took trapper Mickey Fagan only about 15 minutes to lure the gator onto the shore.

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By BETH GADDIS | TBO.com

Published: March 25, 2008

LUTZ — An alligator that tried to turn a dog into supper is no longer worrying the Heritage Harbor neighborhood.

It took third-generation trapper Mickey Fagan only 15 minutes to lure the alligator to the shore with gator calls and beef lung. A few seconds later, the 61/2-foot reptile was tied and no longer a danger to anyone.

Fagan, a department of corrections worker by day and a licensed trapper at night, said it was an easy hunt. He's had hunts that lasted days, especially when the weather was cold, he said.

About a dozen neighbors, many of them children, gathered at Cathy Piendel's house on Sandy Springs Circle at 5 p.m. to watch the hunt from her screened-in porch.

"It was cool," Alec Piendel, 9, said.

"I thought the guy would be bitten, but he didn't," his twin, Kira, said. "They got it with a fishing hook with meat on it."

On Sunday, the Piendel children had joined about a dozen neighborhood children for an Easter egg hunt in their back yard, which edges the pond. They saw the alligator sunning itself on the opposite bank and the adults kept a close eye on it.

A few hours later, at sunset, the Piendels' 7-pound Maltese-toy poodle mix, Gizmo, wriggled his way through a rip in the screened-in porch and headed down to the pond. The dog's owner heard the dog yelping. At that point, the alligator gripped Gizmo's back leg. Cathy Piendel ran toward the animals, yelling, and the alligator let go.

"He has bite marks around his ear area and on his back thigh," Cathy Piendel said. The veterinarian took X-rays, but there appeared to be no broken bones or internal bleeding, she said. Gizmo does have an infection from the alligator bites and is on antibiotics and painkillers. "He's much better today," Piendel said.

The dog has a slight limp, but the veterinarian expected that to go away.

A family member brought Gizmo onto the porch once the alligator was safely bound. The dog started growling immediately.

"I'm relieved that they finally retrieved [the alligator] because he was so aggressive," Piendel said.

Fagan allowed the youngsters to touch the alligator before he hauled him away. The alligator will most likely be destroyed, the trapper said.

"Look around at all the kids," Fagan said. "He wasn't afraid, he came right after my meat."

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