A Florida man who lost an arm after trying to rescue some baby birds nearly lost the other one -- trying to help an alligator, NBC Miami reported Monday.
Alexander Alcantare spotted the eight-foot (2.5m) gator, which had been hit in the head with an arrow, in water near his Miami-Dade home about 9:00pm Sunday.
’I figured I’d trap it and get it some medical attention,’ he said.
The alligator attacked him though, biting him on his good arm as he tried to restrain it.
"I couldn't really handle him too good," Alcantare said. "The guy I asked to help me, he got scared and let go of the rope and since I couldn't secure his mouth, he got me."
Alcantare told NBC Miami he had lost his other arm when he fell on an electric fence while trying to rescue some baby birds. His arm was burned so badly it had to be amputated.
"That's why I couldn't handle him [the alligator] too good like before, but I did pull him out of the water," he said.
Alcantare later called police, only for them to cite him for possession of an alligator. And even worse for the animal fan, the alligator will now have to be euthanized -- because it bit him.
Alcantare, who has also been attacked by a tiger in the Congo, said the gator reacted to him as he would expect.
"That's what happens when you deal with wild animals, you're going to get bitten,’ he said.
