A Florida man had a chunk of his leg bitten off this week by a 7-foot-1-inch alligator he mistook for a dog on a leash. The violent encounter occurred outside a motel in North Port shortly after midnight, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said. The 49-year-old man said he was out for a stroll when he saw a dark figure on the path in front of him, but he didn’t bother to move because he believed it was just a dog, according to local media reports. The beast then took the opportunity to lunge at his right leg, biting it, “holding on, and pulling on his muscle/tissue,” the sheriff’s office said. The man said he felt a piece of his leg tear off as he pulled away from the alligator. A deputy responding to an unrelated call in the area got paramedics to the scene and the man was transported to a hospital. The alligator has since been removed from the area.
