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That man’s best friend thing works both ways, as a lucky Florida dog that was saved from the jaws of a hungry alligator by her owner can attest today. Mandy, a 45-pound Wheaten terrier, sat docilely by her master’s side Thursday as David Grounds, his right hand heavily bandaged, revealed to TODAY’s Meredith Vieira just how far a man will go to save his furry companion.

To some, he's known as "Big Al." Others call him"Norm." He's a 10-foot-long alligator who has earned such nicknames because of his intimidating size. It's his size that now has some worried he could be a danger, while others work to save his life. "Big Al" or "Norm", depending on whom you ask, a large alligator in a Hilton Head lagoon that has some residents worried, and others determined to save. For years, the reptile lived in a lagoon near Port Royal Plantation on Hilton Head Island. That's where he became known as "Big Al." Last week, though, he went...

SEACREST BEACH, Fla. – It sounds more like something out of a freak show: a one-eyed, 3-legged alligator. The gator was captured Thursday morning in Seacrest Beach by Walton County officials. The animal was less than five feet long and had somehow found its way to the beach. A family visiting from Chicago called it the perfect day at the beach. They learned how to tell apart an alligator from a crocodile.

There’s a ghost haunting at the Dallas, Texas Zoo this week! It’s all part of the zoo’s new "Ghosts from the Bayou" exhibit. The star attraction is Boudreaux, a rare 200-pound alligator! "Typically, white alligators - albinos, when they hatch, don't make it to adulthood,” said Bradley Lawrence, Dallas Zoo Reptile Supervisor. “They have health problems. Every predator in the world sees them immediately, and they really don't make it too long in the wild. So it's pretty unique to see one this large."

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Lake County man was attacked by an alligator inside his house Sunday night. The gator crawled through an open door and into the Florida room of the house on Lake Eustis Drive. The man's wife and her friend used a broom handle to try and open the gator's mouth. The house sits right along a canal and it wasn't much distance at all for the little alligator to climb out of the canal, under the gate and right through the back door. "I saw him right here. Right here! That's when I turned around and...

A group of WSU fraternity brothers had to give up their pet alligator after Pullman Police told them it was against the law to keep a gator as a pet. The Delta Upsilon brothers didn't know that until they'd already spent hundreds buying it off the internet and taking care of it. “We were all sitting around one night and we saw an email and website that said you can buy an alligator,” said Lane Quadracci, the pet’s owner. $133 later the reptile was shipped to the Delta Upsilon house in Pullman. “We opened it up and it was just...

Animal caretakers at Jungle Gardens say one of their female alligators has fallen for a most unlikely match. "Attitude", as she's known at the family attraction, is a 25-30 year-old American alligator who has been in captivity at the park for 10 years. Recently, caretakers noticed unusual behavior coming from Attitude each time city garbage trucks would show up to pick up trash. "It's very consistent. Every time they come, she'll pick her head and tail up and let out a huge roar," said Julie Harder, Attitude's caretaker. "It's very loud and intimidating if you're not expecting it." The behavior,...

A white alligator, one of only 12 of its kind anywhere in the world, has been brought in from the swamps of Louisiana.With its piercing blue eyes and pale skin this rare Alligator stands out like a sore thumb. Weighing over 500 pounds, 22 year old male Bouya Blan is one of only 12 white alligators in the world. The 500lb, 22-year-old male alligator, Bouya Blan, whose name means white fog, is kept at the Gatorland theme park in Florida. He is one of four giant leucistic alligators kept at the park. "People are awestruck when they see them, and...

Woman Without Fear By Daniel Mannix I FIRST heard of Grace Wiley when Dr. William Mann, former direc­tor of the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., banded me a picture of a tiny woman with a gigantic king cobra draped over her shoulders like a garden hose. The snake had partly spread his hood and was looking in­tently into the camera while his mis­tress stroked his head to quiet him. Dr. Mann told me: “Grace lives in a little house full of poisonous snakes, imported from all over the world. She lets them wander around like eats. There’s been more...

FLINT RIVER — A Cataula man and three friends nearly got more than they bargained for when an alligator hunt here near Campers Haven turned into a four-hour ordeal with a 680-pound monster that has been confirmed as the new state record. Shane Wilson said the night of Sept. 12 will be one he never forgets, and he’ll soon have the head of a 13-foot, 7-inch alligator on a wall in his Columbus-area home to prove it. Wilson, a self-professed “die-hard duck hunter” won the alligator-hunting lottery this fall in more ways than one. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources...

St. Tammany Parish authorities caught and killed a large alligator that attacked an 11-year-old boy near Slidell Wednesday afternoon, slit open the animal's belly and retrieved the boy's arm that the gator had bitten off at the shoulder.As soon as Devin Funck's arm was rescued from the stomach of the alligator, it was wrapped in a wet towel, stashed in an ice chest and rushed by a sheriff's deputy and a Slidell 1st District firefighter to Ochsner Medical Center, where the boy had been taken by helicopter two hours earlier.Devin's condition was undetermined, but authories near Slidell were hopeful that...

Okeechobee - Kasey Edwards said he never paid "too much mind" to alligators swimming in canals in Okeechobee County. But early Sunday morning, an 11½-foot alligator had his full attention as Edwards, 18, struggled to free his left arm from the jaws of the reptile. "It's a very surreal feeling. You know, feeling like you're about to die here and you know, praying to God," Edwards said. "I have to give all the credit to God for keeping me out there." He got away with his life and the gator with his left arm.

A 210-pound alligator fought the law and the law won. But not before the 8-foot reptile sent the Volusia County sheriff's deputy who jumped it to the hospital. Deputy Keith Baughman intended to protect people from the alligator roaming an apartment complex ... so the lawman threw a towel over the gator's eyes and climbed onto its back. And that turned out to be the wrong tactic. The alligator threw off Baughman, then quickly snagged the deputy's left leg in its large jaws... As the alligator clamped down, Deputy Jason Stickels did what he could to free his fellow officer...

Dwight Monreal narrowly escaped the jaws of an alligator eager to take him down Saturday. "It was the most frightening thing I've ever seen," said Matt Johnson, a golf cart attendant ... Monreal, 62, of Port. St. Lucie is a professional golf ball diver who's been in the business for years... Johnson, who has worked at the club for two years, said everything looked fine around 4:30 p.m when Monreal waded into the lake in his scuba gear. But in a matter of seconds the 10- to 12-foot gator seized his arm and took him into a spin preparing to...

BRAZORIA, TX (KTRK) -- A state trooper found a six foot alligator found in the back seat of a burglary suspect's car early Saturday morning. The trooper told Eyewitness News that William Johnson found the gator in the road near Angleton and loaded it up into his Buick Regal, then broke into a house in Brazoria. DPS Trooper Steve Stanfield explained, "From my understanding, he tried to get a big screen TV out of the house. He couldn't get it in the car by himself, so he recruited a neighbor, who, when he saw the alligator, dropped the TV and...

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man who allegedly was fleeing police was attacked and killed by an alligator in a pond, Local 10 reported. Miccosukee police, assisted by Sweetwater canine units, responded to a call on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation about vehicles being broken into. Local 10's Todd Tongen said police captured one man, but another fled on foot and dove into a retention pond. Signs warned of the danger of live alligators in the pond behind the casino and hotel. Eyewitnesses said they were shouting to the man to swim back to shore. When the man finally spotted the...

Town of Farmington - Ed Long has a new, but strange for these parts, hunting trophy. "When they came up they said to me, 'Well guess what we shot?' And I'm thinking duck. And he goes, 'No, think bigger,' " Herb Sagan said. "And I'm thinking you idiots didn't shoot a deer. ... And he goes, 'No, no, think teeth.' I'm like OK, you shot a coyote. 'No.' A wolf? And he goes, 'Think Louisiana,' and I'm like, snake? He goes 'No, we shot a gator.' " What Long thought was a snapping turtle slithering through the upper reaches of...

An alligator was found swimming in a Central Florida YMCA on Friday morning. The gator, which was about 4 feet long, was discovered by a swimmer in the pool, which is located on the campus of Brevard Community College on Clearlake Road in Cocoa. It is not known how the alligator got into the facility. A YMCA worker joked that the alligator was targeting her because she was wearing an Auburn Tigers sweatshirt. The Florida Gators play Auburn on Saturday. Officials who removed the alligator said it will be released into the wild.

LOS ANGELES - Reggie, the alligator that cruised an urban lake for nearly two years while eluding what were purported to be some of the world's best gator wranglers, was introduced to adoring fans on Thursday at his new home in the Los Angeles Zoo. The 7 1/2-foot-long, 114-pound alligator was brought in to his own exhibit area to cheers and chants of "We want Reggie." Hundreds of people, many wearing Reggie T-shirts and alligator hats, watched as about a dozen handlers lugged the gator into the compound, his jaws wrapped up in a towel and duct tape. He was...

VENICE, Fla. — A Tennessee man survived an attack by an alligator while retrieving a golf ball at a Florida golf course Monday. Bruce Burger, of Lenore City, Tenn., reached into a pond at the sixth hole of Lake Venice Golf Club Monday afternoon when the alligator apparently grabbed his right forearm Course Manager Rod Parry told FOXNews.com. “He didn’t see the gator,” Parry said. “Obviously, the gator reacted to what he probably thought was some kind of food.” The alligator latched onto Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida...