Friday, December 26, 2008

Chinese Christmas Chow



GUANGZHOU, China – While animal lovers in Beijing protested the killing of cats for food, a butcher in Guangdong province, where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup; just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. "Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but kittens are the most tasty," said the butcher, Ho Huang. It was just this attitude that outraged about 40 cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful protest outside the Guangdong government office in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray felines they said were being rounded up by dealers. "We must make them correct this uncivilized behavior," said Wang Hongyao, who represented the group in submitting a letter urging the provincial government to crack down on traders and restaurants, although there are no laws against eating dogs and cats, or serving them in restaurants.

COMMUNIST STAND AGAINST PETS: The protest was the latest clash between age-old traditions and the new sensibilities made possible by China's growing affluence. Pet ownership was once rare because the Communist Party condemned it as bourgeois and most people simply couldn't afford a cat or dog. The protesters' indignation was whipped up by recent reports in Chinese newspapers about the cat meat industry. On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily, a Guangdong paper famous for its exposes and aggressive reporting; ran a story that said about 1,000 cats were transported by train to Guangdong each day. The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were brought to market by dealers on motorcycles, crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes peering from a crowded crate. Another photo showed a roasted cat being served at a popular restaurant in Guangdong. Chinese celebrities often make a point of being seen in public eating cats and dogs in order to curry favor with the Communist Party.

PET STEALING: Some people in Nanjing spend their days "fishing for cats," often stealing pets, the report said. One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid to let their pets leave the house for fear they will get nabbed. "It's never been this bad. Who knows, it might be because of the bad economy. I've heard that there are cat-nabbing syndicates from Hunan that are rounding up cats," said the man, who would only give his surname, Lai, because he feared the cat business might be run by gangsters. Animal protection groups have occasionally ambushed truck convoys loaded with bamboo cages filled with cats bound for Guangdong. In one recent case, hundreds of cats escaped after their cages were opened, though hundreds more remained penned in the vehicle. Lai Xiaoyu, who was involved in the attempted "rescue," said authorities couldn't stop the cat shipment because the traders said the animals were to be raised as pets. "The police did what they could, but there's little they can do to stop or punish those traders from shipping live animals," Lai said.

PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, issued a statement Thursday decrying the cruel treatment. "China has no animal protection laws, and throughout the country scores of cats and dogs are bred or rounded up, crammed onto trucks and driven for days under hellish conditions to animal markets, where they are beaten to death, strangled or boiled alive," said a spokesman for the group, Michael V. McGraw. Guangdong is home to the Cantonese people, famous for being the most adventurous eaters in China. There's a popular saying: "The Cantonese will eat anything that flies, except airplanes, and anything with legs, except a chair." Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong's capital, Guangzhou, said people usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home. Dogs on the other hand, are often purchased at markets and then taken home and slaughtered. "Most Chinese prefer to gut and clean their own dogs, though it is becoming more common to let the butcher do all the work. This costs more money. In the rural areas, dogs are kept as livestock, and the puppies are grown to be eaten. The meat of a young dog is very tender and sweet."

ANIMAL CRACKERS: "There's a famous soup called 'Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix,'" local cafe owner Wo Feng said. "It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together." "We like serve soup with animal crackers. All have good laugh," said Cheu Wang, a local chop-shop cook. "In winter more people eat cats as they believe it's extra nutritious. I like cat only in soup. I prefer dog meat for cooking." The wide-ranging Cantonese culinary tastes are on display daily in Guangzhou, also known as Canton, in the Qing Ping Market. Shopkeepers sit behind cages full of writhing snakes, crates with puppies for sale, tubs filled with swimming turtles and plastic basins with mounds of scorpions crawling over each other. That's where the butcher, Ho Huang, sells her meat, sliced on a blood-soaked cutting board in a stall filled with cages of chickens and rabbits.

DOG CHOW: Hanging on a hook from its head — with its snout cut cleanly off — was a skinned dog with a long curly tail, paws with small clumps of fur still on them and black claws. The dog's jaw bone was displayed in a metal tray beneath the carcass. "The cat meat we sell comes from legitimate sources," said Ho Huang. "It's from cat farms. The animals are raised the same way cows are." She said cat meat sold for about $1.32 a pound, while dog meat was cheaper, at about 95 cents a pound. Chicken was the best buy at 62 cents a pound, while lamb sold for about $1.32. Ho Huang said customers had to order cat meat a day in advance because it doesn't sell as well as dog. "Cat tastes a bit like lamb. I don't like it much," she said. "Young cats are tender, but the meat on the older ones is really tough. Usually old people like eating it. I like dogs better. I make very expensive, special dish with dog testicles, and that is powerful aphrodesiac to make men more potent. Next day, men come by and pay extra tip to me if they have great night in bedroom."

Saturday, November 22, 2008

NFL Dog Fighting

Former National Football League quarterback Michael Vick put family pets in rings with pit bulls and thought it was funny watching the trained killers injure or kill the helpless dogs, a witness told federal investigators during the dog-fighting investigation that brought Vick down. In a 17-page report by case agent James Knorr of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Vick placed pets in the ring against pit bulls owned by “Bad Newz Kennels” at least twice and watched as the pit bulls “caused major injuries.” The witness said Vick and co-defendants Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips “thought it was funny to watch the pit bull dogs injure or kill the other dogs.” Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison and is due to be released from the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, on July 20, 2009. The report also details the killing of several dogs at property Vick owned on Moonlight Road in Surry County. It says Vick was administered a polygraph test by the FBI in October 2007 and denied taking part in the killing of dogs. When told he had failed that part of the test, Vick recanted his story and admitted to helping hang six to eight under-performing dogs. The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, once the highest paid player in the NFL, has been suspended indefinitely by the league and his football future is uncertain. He’s also in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings with $16 million in assets and $20.4 million in liabilities. Peace, who also was convicted in the case, said there were times he suggested that dogs unwilling to fight be given away, but that Vick said “they got to go,” meaning be killed. The dogs were killed by shooting, hanging, electrocution and drowning, and in at least one instance Vick and Phillips killed a red pit bull by “slamming it to the ground several times before it died, breaking the dog’s back or neck.” Vick also said he purchased his first pull bull while a student at Virginia Tech in 1999. Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter commented on the possible reinstatement of Michael Vick when he gets out of prison, "He's already been punished enough," said Porter, who owns a pair of pit bulls. "They gave him his penalty. He paid his penalty. What else should they do to him now? All it was was just dogs. They don't even like pit bulls anyway. That's the funny thing about it. I got pit bulls, I got to put them under a different breed just to travel. So you can't even fly pit bulls nowhere. It's a breed nobody likes and they don't care about. It's not like he was fighting cocker spaniels. They don't really care too much about pit bulls, so what's the bid deal?" Profootballtalk.com has reported that Porter let his pitbull loose and it killed a miniature horse.

Commentary?: What can you say about people that have no conscience? They do not see anything wrong with what they do. They are completely amoral and proud of it. For these guys, killing dogs and other animals is entertainment and fun. Too bad those dogs that were victimized by Michael Vick and others never got a chance to shoot back when they were being killed. Though most dogs are so faithful that they would not bite their owners even if they knew they were going to be killed. Dogs are Man's Best Friend, too bad that sometimes Man is not a good friend to dogs.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Amos Moses


This is one of my favorite country songs, and I first heard it when my family and I moved down to Florida in 1974. The song was released in 1970, and had been a big hit at the time. In the 1970s, I heard Amos Moses a few times on the radio and never heard the name of the song. I thought the song was called "Alligator Man" but it is "Amos Moses" by Jerry Reed. In the 1970s, Jerry Reed had several hit songs, such as "When You're Hot You're Hot" and "She Got the Goldmine and I Got the Shaft." Primus covered the Amos Moses song, but Jerry Reed sounds a lot more country. Amos Moses is a funny song about the Louisiana Bayou, but to me the lyrics capture the smart-aleck attitude of the 1970s era and also the innocence and naivete of the country folks who never imagined what would happen when the land developers took the swamps of Florida (and Louisiana) and turned them into shopping centers and condominiums. There was a time when you could drive around anywhere in South Florida and find swampland, lots of water, reptiles, turtles, wild birds, gulls, herons, and alligators. The canals had alligators and lots of turtles of all kinds, including snapping turtles. Local kids would swim in the canals and lakes and knew where the alligators were swimming. We used to catch turtles and swim next to water moccasins and coral snakes. If you did not bother the critters, they never bothered you or me or anyone else that I knew. I hope that there are still parts of Florida where there is lots of swampland and open water with turtles and alligators and lots of fish and houses laid out with big yards and very little traffic and over-population.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Man Attacks Dog

A Palm Beach County man is behind bars after repeatedly punching a 10-pound Shih Tzu and breaking the small pooch's jaw, law officers say. Edward Greiner, 40, who lives in Smith Farms near Lake Worth, was arrested Thursday and charged with cruelty to animals. Seymour, the black and white dog, required surgery to repair his jaw and is recuperating in a West Palm Beach veterinary's office. According to a police report, a witness told Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detectives she saw Greiner repeatedly punch Seymour in the face with a closed fist. The witness said that she saw Greiner carrying Seymour out his front door when the dog urinated on him. Greiner allegedly drop the dog. The dog scampered across the street with Greiner in hot pursuit, yelling "Kill that dog," the police report says. That's when, the report says, Greiner grabbed the little dog and repeatedly slugged it. According to the police report, Greiner told his girlfriend -- Seymour's owner -- that the dog got the broken jaw and other injuries from running into a wall. Greiner also told police that "everyone is against him and taking sides with his soon-to-be-ex-wife so that she can have sole custody of their children." According to the Palm Beach County Jail website, Greiner is being held without bond.

Commentary: Wow, what a lunatic. I would not want that guy around children. Can you imagine if he had been holding a baby and the baby had urinated on him? Animals depend on people to take them out and for just about everything. In many ways, domesticated animals are alot like children. Anyone who beats and abuses animals is not someone that I would trust around people either!

Monday, November 10, 2008

University of Miami Crocodile Murdered

(10/03/08)-The butchered carcass of an endangered American crocodile was discovered Wednesday in a canal on the University of Miami campus. A mesh bag with fishing chum found on the canal bank suggests the protected animal was lured to its death, then its head and tail were chopped off, said Officer Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. While large alligator heads are sometimes mounted as trophies, Pino said it would be pure speculation to guess at the reasons for the croc beheading. ''We're hoping that somebody will get outraged enough that they will call and tell us if they've heard or seen anything,'' he said. "Right now, the reality is we have little to go on.'' Crocodiles have been both a curiousity and a concern on the UM campus since 2004, when a couple popped up in Lake Osceola. One, an eight-foot, 200-pounder that students affectionately dubbed ''Donna'' after school president Donna Shalala, was removed and relocated. A second larger one eluded expert trapper Todd Hardwick for months -- despite the launch of the ''Croc-Tanic,'' a floating, 12-foot sun deck rigged with a net designed to ensnare the cold-blooded reptiles -- before disappearing. Since then, other crocodiles have been spotted on the Coral Gables campus without incident. UM issued a releasing saying the school was ''saddened'' by the killing and was cooperating with the FWC on the investigation. ''The university has been an understanding neighbor to this species,'' FWC biologist Lindsey Hord wrote in a statement.

UM worked with the state to develop an online program showing students and faculty how to co-exist with large and scary-looking creatures that are, at least typically, less aggressive than the alligators they are often mistaken for. There has never been a documented crocodile attack on a human in Florida. Biologists now estimate the population, which has expanded over the past decade, to be around 1,400 to 2,000 in South Florida -- with most of them living along the unpopulated coast of southern Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay. American crocodiles are listed as an endangered species in Florida and a threatened species under federal law. Killing them is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Pino said the croc was larger than most typically seen in campus canals and lakes connected to the Gables waterway.

The dismembered carcass, which still weighed several hundred pounds and took three men to handle, was transported to a lab for a necropsy that could reveal clues to the crime. Pino said a service worker made the gruesome find Wednesday afternoon. While it wasn't yet clear when the animal was killed, the remains had not yet begun rotting or bloating, suggesting the killing was recent. There were some signs of struggle along the canal, at the intersection of South Alhambra Circle and Ponce de Leon Boulevard near the campus police station, where the chum bag was found, Pino said. ''It lookes like they used that to lure the croc to come over to shore,'' he said. "Then they they used a sharp object, a machete or hatchet, to do the rest.''

UPDATE: (11/01/08) Donna the endangered crocodile, beloved by University of Miami students; was slaughtered as a thrill kill, university police said Thursday. John Michael Herndon, 16, was arrested as a result of tips about the crocodile's death, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said in a news release. He faces a number of charges, including felony animal cruelty. The carcass of the 9- to 10-foot crocodile was discovered in a canal on the campus Oct. 1. The head and tail had been removed. "It is really disturbing that this person and his friends could come onto our campus and viciously kill this crocodile, which presented a threat to no one," said Chief David Rivero of the University of Miami Police Department. Investigators said Herndon told them where to find the head. Miami-Dade police divers found it in a pond on campus. More arrests are possible in the case, police said. The American crocodile is listed as an endangered species in Florida and a threatened species by U.S. environmental agencies. Unlike the alligator, which has a wide range in the coastal south, crocodiles are found only in the southern tip of Florida.

Police are also looking for an adult who they say also took part, luring the reptile with fishing chum, tying it down and chopping it up. The crocodile suffered, authorities said. ''They used knives to kill it,'' said UM Police Chief David Rivero. "It was a very disturbing killing of the crocodile.'' Campus police said a tip to Crime Stoppers about 10 days ago led them to a nearby apartment, where authorities executed a search warrant at the apartment of an ''associate'' of one of those involved. ''We were able to find some critical DNA evidence that told us we were on the right path,'' Rivero said. Five people, three of them juveniles, were at Lake Osceola when the crocodile was killed between 2 and 3 a.m. Oct. 1. Police said they were all friends and one had fished in the canal. The 16-year-old and an adult actively participated in the slaying, police said. ''We have an incredible amount of corroborating evidence including video, DNA,'' Rivero said. "We've recovered the knives. We've recovered the chum bag that was used to draw the crocodile close to shore.''

Crocodiles have called the UM campus home since 2004, and Rivero said the college community's attachment to the crocodile gave police an "incredible zeal to solve this case.'' A service worker made the gruesome discovery in the afternoon on Oct. 1. There were signs of struggle along the canal at the intersection of South Alhambra Circle and Ponce de Leon Boulevard, not far from the campus police station. Police say the group lured the crocodile with chum, tied it up and then killed it, cutting off its head and tail. There are only thought to be between 1,400 and 2,400 of the endangered American crocodiles left in Florida, said Officer Jorge Pino, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "That's why it hit home,'' Pino said. The pieces are often used as trophies or sold, Pino said, adding, "In this case and cases similar to this, it's all about the rush and it's all about wanting to commit this crime. We're not going to tolerate it.''

Commentary: How sad that sick bastards like these can kill innocent animals that are hurting nobody and doing harm to no one. These sickos who engage in the sadistic ritual killing of animals often move up the sicko ladder by becoming murderers. The Zodiac Killer is a perfect example. That guy used to catch squirrels in order to "disect" them and graduated to serial killer. Too bad that these animal molestors cannot be given Biblical Justice, an eye for an eye.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Animals Euthanized At Record Pace

Several dozen animals are euthanized daily as population explodes and county lacks space. It was shortly after 11 a.m. when a man walked into the Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control offices Friday and turned in his dog because it was terrorizing his neighborhood. After a computerized background check on the dog, the two parted. What the pit bull didn't know was that he had joined "the list" of animals to be euthanized, then cremated, within days at the county's new $80,000 incinerator. With the pet population soaring, the shelter on Belvedere Road, west of West Palm Beach, has almost doubled its capacity. A lack of space in an old, smaller building forced officials to make life-and-death decisions. "We have nearly 30,000 animals coming in each year, and the old place was built for 17,000. So, if you have no space, a certain number has to be put to sleep every day to make room for those new ones coming in," said Dianne Mercer Sauve, director of the Animal Care and Control Division.

Each year, thousands of dogs, cats, pigs, raccoons, horses, birds and even emus pass through the doors of the animal shelter. Some will be adopted. Most will not. Every animal that enters the facility gets five days. Pet adoption advocates say there's been a rise in the number of animals being abandoned. "It's really terrible," said Jeannette Christos, founder of the Tri County Humane Society, which advocates for pet adoption. "Every day when we come to work, people tie animals to our fence. With the economy the way it is, that contributes to it." She would like to see people keep their animals. "I can never, ever see how anybody could abandon their animal. It's just sad," she said. Animals at the county shelter that show signs of aggression or have bitten before have little chance of adoption and are quickly put on the death list. Officials euthanize as many as 50 animals a day. When county officials built the old shelter 15 years ago, they did not expect it would outgrow the building. In April, county commissioners passed a $1.6 million improvement plan to replace three kennels that had deteriorated and the incinerator. They replaced the incinerator and plan to have the rest of the facility finished next month. The new incinerator replaced equipment built in 1990. It was too small for the workload and ran all day and at nights. The new incinerator is adjacent to the old one, which was in the back of the shelter. "It literally was just rusting apart and not very efficient," Sauve said. (story by C. Ron Allen, South Florida Sun-Sentinel).

Commentary: Very sad that so many people who buy pets do not make a lifetime commitment to these helpless animals. Let's face it, how many people sell their Playstations, TV, etc., before they are down to getting rid of their pets? Sadly, the dog, cat, or other pet is often the first one to be sacrificed when financial problems arise in a household.
Solutions? Personally, I think that half the Puppy Mills should be closed down, and that the sales of dogs should include a major tax to fund the upkeep of abandoned animals. All dog and other larger animal sales should be registered, and the owners should be required to get an annual check-up and tag for these dogs, cats, etc. There needs to be accountability for pet owners. There also should be tax breaks for people that have pets, and less restrictions against pet owners for rental homes and apartments. How many people that are getting their homes foreclosed are moving into an apartment that does not allow any pets?? What do you think?? It is very sad that an endless amount of innocent creatures are dying and being let down by their owners. After all, God created all creatures, not just humans.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Man Fights Shark to Save Dog

A man has saved his pet dog from a shark attack by jumping into the water and punching the fish in the neck. Greg LeNoir and his rat terrier Jake were swimming at a Florida Keys marina when the attack happened. The 53-year-old carpenter said: "I saw a big, dark green shape, which I realised was a big shark's head. It zoomed up from under Jake. "Jake screamed - a death scream - and it sucked him under. I dove straight down like a battering ram, and I drove my fist under the water into the shark. "And it pushed him down - it felt like concrete on my hand." The shark's teeth punctured Jake's skin and some muscle on the dog's abdomen, chest and back. Jake also suffered lacerations on his right side and front left leg. The incident happened on Friday afternoon when Mr LeNoir took Jake to the Worldwide Sportsman's Bayside Marina pier in Islamorada, Florida for the dog's daily swim. Mr LeNoir said he was terrified when he saw the shark, but his only thought was saving Jake, who he described as a fast and fearless swimmer, often retrieving jellyfish and coconuts. "Jake is such a big part of mine and my wife's life - we don't have children," he said. "This is what she considers the closest thing to a child. And I couldn't abandon him." Mr LeNoir's brother, Phillip, told the Miami Herald: "Jake's doing great. And I still can't believe my brother jumped in the water and punched a shark."

Comments: WOW! It is great to read about someone who loves his dog so much he was willing to put his own life on the line!! But then there is this SAD NEWS from Australia:

Dog Burned to Death: A dog has died after being badly burned in Sydney's west yesterday, police said. The male terrier cross was found by a man walking his own dog along Orchardleigh Street at Old Guildford about 5.30pm, police said. Police said the man took the dog to the RSPCA at Yagoona but its injuries were so severe it was put down. Inspector Slade Macklin from the RSPCA said it appeared the dog had been set on fire deliberately. "Unless the dog was in a house fire or if someone turned around and said 'the dog jumped in an open fire', it's sort of unlikely that a dog would [do] something like that," Inspector Macklin said. But a police spokeswoman said Bankstown investigators were following a number of lines of inquiry and had not ruled out the possibility the dog's injuries were accidental. It is believed police last night made contact with the dog's owner, who lives in the Yagoona/Old Guildford area. Inspector Macklin said the dog, which was "only a couple of years old", was in shock when it was delivered to the RSPCA.

Dog Hanging From Tree: Yesterday a dead dog has been found hanging from a tree in Sydney's west, the RSPCA says. RSPCA NSW is appealing for witnesses to what it has labelled a shocking case of animal cruelty. The female cattle-dog cross was discovered this morning in RAAF Memorial Park, on the corner of Belmore Avenue and Woodstock Road in Mount Druitt.
The tan-coloured dog, thought to be no more than five years old, was probably hanging there for at least a few days, the RSPCA said. RSPCA NSW Inspector Matt Godwin said it was not clear if the animal was already dead before being strung up in the tree, but there were no other obvious injuries. "It is without a doubt, the worst case of cruelty and the most disturbing that I have ever seen," Inspector Godwin said. "We're appealing to anyone who has any information or who may have seen people acting suspiciously in the area over the weekend, to come forward. "The dogs' owners might still be looking for their pet." Anyone with information is urged to phone RSPCA NSW on (02) 9770 7555.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Stupid Pet Tricks

Alligator Bites Guys Arm
WARNING: Blood - An animal trainer is doing a trick where he sticks his arm into an alligators open mouth. I guess the gator did not like the trick so he bites down on the guys arm and starts spinning around.
This video is a perfect illustration of a Darwin Awards winner at work. I have never been a fan of alligator wrestling, or any shows involving alligators or for that matter turtles, dolphins, whales, penguins, etc. I think that those animals are God's creatures and they should be appreciated and respected accordingly. Too bad that most of the natural habitats for these creatures are either being eliminated or polluted or otherwise destroyed.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Gator Bites Swimmer

Okeechobee - Kasey Edwards said he never paid "too much mind" to alligators swimming in canals in Okeechobee County. But early Sunday morning, an 11½-foot alligator had his full attention as Edwards, 18, struggled to free his left arm from the jaws of the reptile. "It's a very surreal feeling. You know, feeling like you're about to die here and you know, praying to God," Edwards said. "I have to give all the credit to God for keeping me out there." He got away with his life and the gator with his left arm. Edwards admits he and his friends were drinking before he decided to jump in the 25-foot-deep canal in Nubbin Slough in Okeechobee County. "I've heard different rumors of what was involved and there were no drugs involved, no dare, nobody pushed me in or something."

At 2:21 a.m. Sunday, Edwards was hanging out with friends on Nubbin Slough in Okeechobee County when he told them he was going to swim across a 25-foot-deep canal, according to an Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office report. Edwards had been drinking alcoholic beverages earlier and may have been impaired, according to witnesses quoted in the report. His friends tried to persuade him not to do it, the report states. Halfway through the swim, an alligator approached Edwards and clamped down on his left arm. Edwards said he knew the next move was the death roll, when a gator pulls its prey underwater and rolls the victim around to drown it. When the alligator grabbed his arm, he remembered that gators spin their prey, so he told WFLX-TV that he grabbed a buoy line and didn't let go."I was just like holding on with everything I could for this gator was trying to pull me under," he told the station. "I'd surface, get a gasp of air and he'd just shake again and pull me under."He did it about five times," Edwards continued. Somewhere in the battle he used the middle finger on his right hand to poke the reptile in the eye. That's when Edwards got free, he said, started swimming and realized he didn't have his left arm. "I still at this time didn't realize that my arm was gone," he told WFLX-TV. "I just — my adrenalin was pumping, and I swam to the other side of the bank." His main concern was to make it to the east end of the canal so friends could pull him to safety.

The Florida State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission captured the alligator after the attack, WFLX-TV reported. Edwards was taken to a Melbourne hospital for treatment and he should be released by the end of the week. Edwards told FOXNews.com that he wants the state to do more to control the alligator population, citing the safety of young children, but he declined to discuss his own encounter further."It seems like there's a crossroads," Edwards told WFLX-TV. "Either you have a positive attitude, you know, just make the best of a bad situation, or just sit there and feel sorry for yourself."

On Monday evening, Edwards was in fair condition at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne with his arm severed about 3 to 4 inches above the elbow. Today, Edwards said, he will have surgery. He hopes to be out of the hospital by the weekend. Edwards said his attack shows something needs to be done about the overpopulation of gators. "They're not protected creatures. They're nuisance animals," he said. Edwards said the credit for his survival and quick thinking goes to God, friends and emergency personnel. "I don't care who you are or how strong you think you are. You aren't going to be able to hold on to a buoy line while an 11½-foot alligator is trying to pull you underwater," he said.

Commentary: Now here is a drunken youth who goes into the alligator's habitat and gets bitten. Who is the nuisance animal? Does God protect drunks? Apparently not. Then again, the kid survived! Maybe God wanted to teach this guy a lesson: SOBER UP, and don't swim in alligator territory in the middle of the night!