I’ll give you one guess where this showdown between man and alligator, with a pup caught in between, took place.

It can only be Florida.

The words ‘Florida Man’ have become a meme over the past few years, usually for news stories that involve bizarre domestic incidents in the state, and more often than not somebody high on hard drugs.

This involves neither, but the man in question does manage to rescue a puppy from the jaws of an alligator without dropping the cigar in his mouth, which deserves special praise.

That man is 74-year-old Richard Wilbanks, who was walking his Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Gunner, alongside a pond near his retirement village in Estero.

Out of nowhere, an alligator popped out the water and grabbed his hound.

More from the Guardian:

“It came out of the water like a missile,” he said. “I never thought an alligator could be that fast. It was so quick.”

Cameras set up by the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fSTOP Foundation captured the encounter, which shows Wilbanks in the pond, his head submerged as he tries to grab a hold of the alligator. He then emerges holding the reptile, which still has the dog in its jaws. In Wilbank’s jaws is a cigar – which he never drops…

Gunner has since seen a vet, and while he suffered a small puncture wound to his stomach, he is otherwise fine.

Wilbanks said his hand was a little “chewed up”, but that’s a small price to pay for saving your best friend.

This man is a very worthy recipient of a Bell’s or three:

In case you didn’t already have maximum respect for Wilbanks, he went on to say that he doesn’t want the alligator removed from the pond, because “they’re part of nature and part of our lives”.

There are more than a million alligators living in the state of Florida, so Gunner will now be kept on a leash when near any ponds in the area.

[source:guardian]