Fourth of July parade led by a four-legged hero who escaped an alligator’s mouth
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- Strike was snatched and dragged 30 feet by a 10-foot alligator last June.
- Strike had a steel plate and several screws implanted and months of convalescent walks.
- Strike won Southport’s Dog Mascot contest with over $6,000 in popularity votes.
When trumpets blow, banners fly and the Fourth of July parade rolls through Southport, a true champion will occupy the grand marshal’s seat, gallantly panting, tail in a jaunty wag.
This time last year, veterinarians told Strike the Labrador retriever that he might never walk the same, let alone hunt ducks, let alone bounce balloons on his nose.
On that day last June, an alligator snatched him off the banks of a Brunswick County pond and dragged him out 30 feet, pulling him under until his owner Bonner Herring dove in after the 10-foot reptile swinging a garden rake, pulling Strike to dry land.
And a year later, with his bones knitted, his fur regrown and his duck-hunting vigor restored, Strike took first place in a landslide vote to name Southport’s first-ever Dog Marshal — a title no quitter could claim.
“Who better to represent the parade than such a fighter?” asked Herring. “Strike, he’s just got a badass story.”
One big gator
Alligators have long flocked to Brunswick County, situated on North Carolina’s southeast corner, partially for its semi-tropical climate but especially for its retiree development — offering golf courses and retention ponds as a reptile Eden.
Strike was resting near the edge of a pond while Herring finished some chores that day in June when terror struck.
“I heard Strike let out a yell and a giant splash at the same time and I was like, ‘Dammit.’ I just ran. I was running with everything I had.”
Herring could see the beast tugging on his dog stretched 10 or 12 feet long, and by his best guest, it had wandered over from a neighboring golf course either for female company or in sheepish retreat from a bigger, more territorial gator.
But when he swam out 30 feet and started thrashing, the beast let go long enough to grab Strike and start swimming, with great effort, back to shore.
“My theory is that with that big splash and commotion, that gator thought I was another bull gator he’d had an interaction with,” Herring said. But on the way back, “That big damned thing popped up and postured to show how big he was.”
Such a good dog
Strike took a deep puncture wound, having been tugged down by the gator’s big jaws.
It took months of convalescent walks to overcome the limp, along with a steel plate and several screws in his leg. For a time, Herring had to carry Strike up stairs.
But he trained as a duck-hunting dog, responding to hand signals and whistles. More than that, Strike brought a stoic disposition to recovery.
“He doesn’t want to fight other dogs,” Herring said. “He doesn’t want to kill the cat or chase the cat. As long as you don’t have feathers, you’re fine.”
The Dog Mascot contest raised money for Southport’s Fourth of July Festival, and though he saw stiff competition from a shih tzu, Strike brought in more than $6,000 in popularity votes — taking first prize.
So picture Strike on the Fourth of July, pounding a drum, playing a fife, a bloody bandage tucked under his tri-cornered hat modified with ear holes. Troubles, even when they come with 80 teeth, stand no chance against such steely resolve.
Herring shrugged at this picture.
“He probably could take it or leave it,” he said. “He’s such a good dog.”
