Insult meet injury.
A 63-year-old airboat captain from Florida, the alliteratively named Wallace Weatherholt, was on the receiving end of an unfortunate alligator attack on June 12 while giving an Indiana family a tour of the Everglades. The 2.7-metre long gator ended up dining on Weatherholt’s hand, leaving the airboat captain an appendage short after his encounter with the ferocious reptile.
Not only does Weatherholt have to suffer the loss of his hand, but he’s also being charged in the incident, because it turns out the 63-year-old was feeding the alligator a fish at the time of the attack, which is against the law in Florida. Who knew that a) you shouldn’t feed wild alligators, and b) if you do, you shouldn’t do it by hand.
Everybody not named Wallace Weatherholt, I guess. Oh, and even though his hand was found, it could not be reattached. The gator was put down by Florida wildlife officials.
Weatherholt was charged with unlawful feeding of an alligator, and for being monumentally stupid. He will appear in court August 22 on the first charge. As for the second (made up) charge, he’s already paid his debt to society, and will be reminded so every time he looks at the stump where his hand used to reside.
[Yahoo]
