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Subscribe to RSSA Florida airboat captain loses his lower arm while allegedly attempting to feed an alligator by hand for tourists. WBBH's Julian Johnson reports.
EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. – An alligator bit off the hand of an Everglades airboat captain Tuesday in front of startled tourists, NBC station WBBH reported.
The victim, Wallace Weatherholt, 63, works for Captain Doug's Everglades Tours in Everglades City, according to WBBH of Fort Myers.
The gator was captured and killed after the attack so the man's hand could be retrieved from the animal's stomach, Florida Fish and Wildlife officers said. The hand was sent to NCH Hospital in Naples, where the victim was taken after the attack, but it is unclear if doctors were able to reattach it.
Based on witness accounts, wildlife officials suspect Weatherholt may have illegally fed the 9-foot gator. Despite having his hand bit off, Weatherholt could be charged with second-degree misdemeanor and face up to six months in jail if found guilty. An investigation is ongoing and officers asked any additional witnesses to come forward.
"I was kind of freaked out about that because that's kind of weird," said Everglades City resident Sarah Goff. "You don't feed them. They can get used to that and get aggressive."
See the original story at NBC-2.com, WBBH
Neighbors told WBBH the victim is a very kind man.
"He was a nice guy and I'm really sorry for what happened to him," said Olga Pereira.
Wildlife officers say the unfortunate incident is a reminder of why it is illegal to touch, harass or feed alligators.
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Poor alligator had to die because of someone's stupidity.
I am a hunter, fisherman, meat eater, etc. and I don't even think this gator should have been killed. Screw this guy and his hand. He was feeding the gators illegally and he deserves what he got.
Maybe he can get a wooden one now and become a golf instructor. :)
Apparently nobody told the alligator never to bite off the hand that feeds you.
Poor guy--the alligator. With that big mouth, he probably did not mean to bite the mans hand.
"I'm Johnny Knoxville and welcome to..."
The gator should have been able to keep the hand and the stupid @ss to learn how to wipe left handed....
No worries, ther are PLENTY more gators...
Please see: "Romancing The Stone" with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. If I am not mistaken, Alligators are fierce descendants of the dinosaurs 65million years ago. Do NOT try to Feed the Beasts,they think you are food!!!!
Why must animals die doing normal animal things? Same thing happened after the Crocodile Hunter was pierced in the chest by a stingray's barb. His buddies went on a stingray-killing frenzy, as if that would bring back the star of the show. These people end up knowing relatively nothing about the professions they've chosen to exploit. Get some training at least...
The alligator was not killed because it bit the man. It was killed in order to retrieve the man's hand from the alligator's stomach. Because an alligator spins to twist off the limbs it has bitten, it is highly unlikely that the hand will be able to be reattached as it might with a clean cut.
Problem is there are PLENTY more human dumb a$$es than gators. And the beat goes on...
Age 63 and hasn't learned not to tease the wild life.
@ Chris, really? Oh wow...I guess I never thought (or imagined) that that would be the case...But they do bite in chucks, and swallow. Interesting and horrifying at the same time.
The gator was just doing what comes naturally, plus he did give the tourists quit a show, so let's give the gator a hand!!
I will admit, this guy is a COMPLETE MORON if he really was feeding the alligator and probably got what he deserved. However fining the guy after he lost his hand... I mean don't you kind of think that's punishment enough. I'm sure he has learned his lesson.
After causing the animal to be destroyed, I kind of think it would be proper karma if they were unable to reattach his hand... just saying.
You don't spit into the wind, juggle chain saws and you sure don't stick your hand in an Alligators mouth.
And the prize goes to Captn Curtass for the meanest and funniest response... LMAO
That's how Captain Hook got his start....but I didn't think he was in Florida. Or was this a Disney ride?
Christian just because someone is injured while committing a crime doesn't mean they should be let off the hook regardless of how bad the injury is. Hopefully he will be fined.
@captn curtass....best post of the day...congrats!!
Yes funny post. Like Dingle B, Happy Gilmore was my first thought though.
Sucks for this guy but can't feel sorry for him either, got what was coming to him. Gator was just being a gator and I don't think it should've been killed, regardless of how many of them there are. And yes Chris is right I doubt they will be able to re-attach the hand; not just from the fact it was torn off, not clean cut, but the gator's mouth is full of bacteria, went in its stomach, and in the swamp water no less. Better start looking for a hook or wooden hand. Best of luck to this guy; again, don't feel sorry for him but I hope he gets better. Hope others learn from this to.
It is time
LMAO..swamp people..he must have dropped his Jack Daniels pint into the water and went to get it.
Never believe what you read! ;)
Did Steve Irwin come back to life?
Gotta hand it to the guy, he knows how to put on a show - feed the 'gators and then take back the treat.
According to local news, reattachment of his hand was not successful.
PhantomBeast - comment 1.7 - "Romancing the Stone" had no alligators in it. It DID have crocodiles, though.
So will this be labeled god's will or a darwinism award?
It's too late for natural selection to come into play if he's a father, besides, he's still alive and presumably he can still breed. It is not, however, too late for him to learn humility and submission to authority, so if God's will is for him to learn that lesson, the loss of his hand might do the trick. If, having learned humility and submission to authority, he goes to heaven, he'll get a new glorified body anyway. A hand is a small price to pay if that's what it takes to acheive heaven and avoid hell.
When the cops got there did they slap a HAND CUFF on him ?? DOH !!
Neither Rick. It's labeled man's free choice of stupidity and lack of common sense.
Rick-546746
Most of what happens is not God's will. God has given us free will to choose right and wrong. We are not God's puppets.
Don't feed alligators! They said it in the old TV series Gentle Ben and it holds true today.
Correction: Don't feed alligators.........your hand!
Poor Gator. Stupid man.
I live in the Gulf, and have taken these tours before. The first one I took, the captain took his small barefoot children and very pregnant wife...It was at night at he took some crazy risks, and at one point jumped into the water with them. Mind you,when you shone a light out into the water, HUNDREDS of eyes were glowing back at you... He hit a rutting male who got extremely angry and it rushed the shallow airboat, I kid you not, it's snappers got within inches of my face, I could smell it's breath. It's worse than one would imagine. I'm surprised more of these guys have not gotten hurt like that...it takes a daredevil personality to do those tours.
Sounds like a memorable tour!
I think it's unfair the gator was killed because of this guys stupidity....yes, now the gator does realize people are food, but this guy did it to himself. I hope he gets jail time for it. What he did basically insured the murder of an innocent creature, who was only doing what they do..eat.
People this is an alligator. You act like it's a puppy. Yes the man was stupid, but come on. Not a cute fuzzy puppy. A very very dangerous reptile - only good for boots, shoes and purses for crying out loud!
And alligators are good to eat as well.
Correction, you live on the Gulf. To live in the Gulf, you would have to stay in the ware continuosly.
I wouldn't use "daredevil" as the proper adjective. "Moronic" seems more appropriate.
HA HA!!!
That captain deserves a hand!!!
No, the gator does. Between the two, the gator was the only one that did the right thing. The captain needs a new name now; captain hook, captain prosthetic, I'm stumped on this one.
Lefty.
they called him Amos ...Amos Moses...
Stumpy
Hopefully he isn't given jail time. Perhaps a fine if he did break the law... but I think losing his hand is punishment enough....
Wrong. His actions caused the alligators death.
And you probably think a drunk driver crashing and killing another person is punishment enough. After all, it wasn't the drunk's fault that other people were around.
Diva10, FINE? He should lose his other hand so the idiot doesn't do it again and another innocent animal loses its life for his ignorance.
Sounds like Sharia Law to me.
No good deed goes unpunished.
No good feed goes without desert.
Funny!
another dumbass feeding a wild alligator to impress tourists. Too bad the gator had to needlessly die!!
If you want to see alligators close, or to see them fed go to the various "gator farms" in the state where there are captive ones, ie zoo like settings
After watching the reality shows where the alligators are being shot by the truckload it's about time that they won one.
Ali the Gator said "That tastes like chicken."
oooooooWEE MAMA!
See you later, .......
I guess the captain will have to Pack it in.
It should be illegal NOT to kill alligators; they serve no ecological purpose, and we are on their diet.
Rick,
I am assuming you have never lived where there are gators or you would know better than to make a statement like that.
The same could be said of us.
Alligators are a "keystone species". Kill all the alligators, and the ecosystem goes to hell in a hand basket. Rick-881466, it is statements such as yours that have, in the past, decimated entire ecosystems. Thankfully, the human race is beginning to understand that if you kill off an entire species in its native habitat, the consequences could be dire for all other species, including our own......
Msnbc, the past participle of "bite" is "bitten". Not "bit". The correct grammar is, "Despite having his hand bitten off..."
Jesus, guys, I know this story is out of Florida, but you really don't have to butcher the English language like the locals do.
You'd think a journalist would know better.
No, I wouldn't. Not these days, and certainly not on msnbc.
It's tough enough to find literate Americans but even tougher when the journalists are outsourced.
That'll learn'im! What an idiot! Anything to please the tourists. Foolish is as foolish does!
So if I shove my foot up this guy's a$$ and it breaks off in there, will someone kill him to retrieve my foot? That is the rule, right?
so, if a gator bites off my hand in FL, I'll get arrested for illegally feeding the gator?
How messed up is that?
Assuming that you're seriously asking this, he's not getting arrested for feeding the gator his hand, he's getting arrested for feeding the gator something else, during which the gator bit his hand off.
The tourists should file claims of Tramatic Injury.
What did the gator say just before he was killed - "What do you think of my handiwork? (Rimshot)
What did the airboat captain say right after the gator bit his hand off - "Dammit, I just got my nails done!"
What did the airboat captain think right before the gator bit his hand off - "Dammit, without my glasses I can't tell how close that gator is, maybe just a bit (no pun intended) closer."
What did the gator say right after he bit the airboat captains hand off - "Jeez, I better get my eyes checked. I was aiming for his head".
Alligators are not the type of creature that can be told not to bite the hand that feeds it.
Well, now, Jane, don't forget shoes, belts and purses.
Yes belts too!
An alligator in a pond near me was captured and killed a few years ago because people had been feeding it and it got aggressive. Use your heads, people.
If they used their heads, the alligator would take their heads off!
We bought a beach house on the gulf back in 1993, about a year after we bought it a little 4 feet gator moved into our pond our neighbor called us and asked us if it would be alright if she called FWC & had it removed. I though ok they would catch it & move it out to the wild area. It didn't happen that way, we happened to be down there that weekend & I woke to a gun shot Saturday morning. They had a 10 feet pole with a 22 cal. gun built into the end of it called a bang stick. They killed that baby gator, if I had of known it I wouldn't have let them do it. It's been almost 20 yrs & another one has never moved in, just a lot of snakes. our property is close to the Apalachicola national forest & Tate's Hell state forest nothing out there but a lot of woods & lately a lot of black bears they are making a very good comeback.
Takes little for a gator to become a four-legged terrorist. The only good ones are called luggage.
jane thats an ignorant statement. maybe you should research how gators fit into the ecosystem in the glades before you make a comment on the subject.
Now they can call him Capt. Hook. Looks like Tick Tock the Crock is still out there.
When I read the headline on the MSN main page 'Captain's Hand Bitten Off By Alligator' I thought Jeez, was Peter Pan involved in this one too?
Shiver me timbers..yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk