Could the Lee County Sheriff’s Office have its very own Deputy Doolittle?
On Saturday, the Sheriff’s Office’s unofficial animal whisperer, Sergeant Dave Drum, once again came to the rescue of one of Southwest Florida’s animal residents.
Drum was on Pine Island when he came across and helped corral the lost little porker.
Drum is no stranger to pig recovery.
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In 2018, a hog got loose in Lehigh Acres, and Drum came to the rescue after the Sheriff’s Office was called about a “very large pig rooting around” in East Manor Mobile Home Park in North Fort Myers.
Drum lassoed the gargantuan hog and turned it over to the Sheriff’s Office Agriculture Unit. That pig, and several other lost hogs, were eventually auctioned off when no owners came forward.
But pork on the hoof isn’t Drum’s only animal connection.
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In December 2020, Drum saved another Lee County animal in distress. After noticing a duckling fall into a storm drain, Drum jumped in and saved the duckling and returned it to its family.
Drum’s animal exploits were a little more on the wild and possibly dangerous side in September 2018.
He and several other Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the Burger King parking lot in Lehigh Acres about an alligator in the parking lot.
The alligator was safely detained by the deputies. To to keep it and everyone else safe, and at the request of the Florida Wildlife Commission, Drum and the deputies released the near-3-foot critter back into the canal.
