Local researcher recovering after alligator attack

By Carrie A. Mizell

Pete Butt may not be up to cooking eggs on Saturday morning at the Spring Ridge Volunteer Fire Department’s monthly pancake breakfast, but he’ll be there.
The volunteer firefighter and noted egg cook was snorkeling in Marion County last Tuesday when he was attacked from behind by an 11 and a half foot alligator.
As operations manager for High Springs-based Karst Environmental Servces Inc., Pete Butt, 54, had just finished checking water samples for the St. Johns River Water Management District in the Silver River near Silver Springs around 5:15 p.m. when the alligator bit him.
Though he was initially listed in critical condition at Shands Hospital, Butt was released from the hospital on Friday and is now recovering at home.
Butt suffered a broken jaw that had to be wired shut, lacerations across his upper chest and neck, as well as puncture wounds to his shoulder.
“I was conscious through the whole thing,” Butt recalls. “It was probably a territorial attack.”
Butt calls the attack a very freak event considering he was near a boat slip, cooling off after working all day. Trained as a firefighter 1 in Gilchrist County, Butt said that his experience as a first responder allowed him to stay calm and even lock himself in the rescue workers’ guerny.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the first class care I received all the way through,” Butt said.
A Nuisance Gator Trapper was called in to work with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to find and kill the alligator on Tuesday evening.
“I’m kind of bummed they had to destroy such an incredible beast,” Butt said.
He did say that he understands the need to put the animal down if it could be a danger to other people. Though Butt’s friends at Spring Ridge Volunteer Fire Department plan to hold Saturday morning’s pancake breakfast in his honor, Butt said that he can’t in all good conscience take money raised at Saturday’s breakfast.
“All things considered, I am doing well,” Butt said. “There are so many people around me that I am more worried about than myself.”
Butt said that he is fully insured and therefore does not need donations. He plans to see that all monies raised on Saturday go to both the Spring Ridge Food Bank and Wyatt Thomas, who recently underwent a successful heart transplant.
“I had heart surgery as a child myself,” Butt said.