A fisherman in Florida was tarpon fishing from shore in the Everglades when an alligator surfaced and started swimming toward him, prompting a hasty and heart-pounding retreat down a trail with the gator giving chase.
As he backpedaled, Tommy Lee stumbled and fell with his wide-angle GoPro capturing the intense encounter.
“And I thought people only tripped and fell down at the worst possible time in horror movies for suspense,” one commenter wrote on the YouTube post.
When Lee got back to his feet, he was staring face-to-face with an 11-foot-plus alligator, which some believe was protecting its nest. (Warning for an expletive at the beginning of the video.)
“Well, that puts an end to my tarpon fishing,” Lee said in the video, posted by ViralHog on Monday. “Wow.”
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The 22-year-old native Floridian didn’t immediately flee the scene, however. Instead, he pointed his fishing rod at the alligator and told it to “Get back.” The alligator then charged him again, sending Lee farther down the path.
Seconds later, and breathing heavily, Lee went back for another look. He then witnessed the alligator, in full retreat, return to the water, to which Lee concluded in the video, “And I am outta here.”
Lee told ViralHog he was fishing at sunrise Saturday when the encounter occurred.
“The gator appeared much larger and closer in person,” he said. “It got within 10-feet of me.”
Or in other words, too close for comfort.
Photo courtesy of ViralHog.
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