Florida Teenager Loses Hand in Alligator Attack

These kinds of stories are unreal, and not just fascinating to my 8 year-old and his age-cohorts. At LAT, "Florida teen loses hand in alligator attack":

A Florida teenager was attacked by an alligator and had his left hand torn off when swimming in a popular neighborhood canal.

Tim Delano, 18, of Golden Gates Estates, Fla., was attacked by the 10-foot alligator while he was swimming at dusk Sunday in a drainage canal known to locals as "the Crystal."

"I saw my bone, I had no hand," Delano told the Naples News.

The animal attacked Delano, pulling him underwater and going into a "death roll," during which gators roll over and over until their prey drowns.

"Fortunately, I had enough sense to take my right hand and I started punching it," Delano said. He got the alligator to release him, but when Delano got to the surface he realized that his left hand was gone.

Delano started screaming, saying that the pain was "excruciating."


With the help of his friends, Delano called 911, and while awaiting the emergency medical services arrival he called his mother, leaving her the message: "Mom, I have no left hand. Goodbye."

RTWT.