It happened again. A dog owner rescues a puppy from a gator’s jaws

A few months after a cigar-chomping dog owner leaped into action to save his dog from an alligator, another pet owner has rescued his puppy from the jaws of death, ABC Action News first reported.

Mike McCoy was walking his 8-month-old chocolate lab, Jake, near his Holiday home Tuesday, the station said. As they passed a pond, an alligator pounced and pulled the dog under. McCoy jumped in after Jake.

“I got around, thumbed him in the eye, picked him out of the water so he couldn’t get anywhere until he let the dog go,” recalled McCoy, who was also injured in the fracas. “And in the interim he decided, well, OK, I don’t have him, I’ll bite you.”

Both gator victims suffered minor injuries that required stitches but are otherwise fine.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission responded and removed a roughly nine-foot alligator from the pond that is behind Paul R. Smith Middle School. A woman who answered the phone at the school Friday said everyone was “relieved” it was gone.

Back in October, heroics were caught on video. Richard Wilbanks, 74, was strolling by the pond on his Estero property when he heard his King Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy yelp in pain.

Before realizing what was happening — the poor animal named Gunner was being attacked by a gator — the senior citizen jumped in the water, cigar still in mouth, and pried open the beast’s jaws with his bare hands to save his pet.

Wilbanks had barely a scratch on him, and little Gunner came out of the ordeal just fine. The dog was later deputized by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.