Boy, 8, sees donated pet eaten alive by zoo’s alligator

It must have been a tough decision for young Colton Guthrie to donate his pet turtle Gulfarium in Fort Walton Beach, Florida – sadly, Tomalina had grown to large for her aquarium.

Unfortunately, the 8-year-old boy was going to learn a cruel lesson about nature. Tomalina was released into an enclosure that also housed alligators – which don’t usually have any interest in turtles. Tomalina proved to be an exception to the rule.

Colton was there when an alligator decided to make a meal of his former pet. His pleas for mercy did nothing to dissuade the cold-blooded reptile from doing what nature intended to a soundtrack of crunching turtle shell.

Colton’s mother, Brenda Guthrie, told the Pensacola News:

He was shouting, ‘Oh no alligator, let it go!’

For Colton it must have been a sad way to learn about the unforgiving nature of nature. [News.au]