- $2 junk-store find turns out to be $5M Billy the Kid photo
- Stranger's random act of kindness goes viral
- Study: People who like black coffee more likely to be psychopaths
- Paramedic bride responds to call while in her wedding dress
- Orphaned sisters separated 40 years ago reunite while working at Florida hospital
A Lake County man was attacked by an alligator while working next to a canal in his mother's backyard Wednesday.
Dorren Brown said she watched the alligator jump from the water and clamp down on her son's right hand.
She said her son, Doug Brown, 45, was fixing a water pump when she saw the gator just before it struck.
"I said to my son, 'There's an alligator. You had better watch out,' and he jumped up on his feet. It jumped full length up right out the water," Brown said. "I won't forget, never ever forget. That stuck in my mind."
She rushed her son to the hospital. Brown said her son, who had surgery on his hand Thursday, will be OK.
After the attack, next-door neighbor Becky Faulker watched as wildlife officers arrived and pulled the gator from the backyard canal in Tavares.
"It didn't surprise me because this alligator has been hanging around for a week, and she has a German shepherd and every time the German shepherd came out the alligator was right here by the canal," Faulkner said.
