I was walking at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and I saw a juvenile American Alligator basking in the sun with its mouth open, so I stopped for a few photos. I soon realized it was not basking, it was eating, or at least trying to eat. The large photo gallery below documents a part of the battle between the young alligator and the turtle that never stopped squirming and pushing with its little legs any chance it got. The alligator dropped the turtle NINE times and was able to pick it back up again… it was the tenth that sounded the freedom bell for the turtle, it was finally dropped into the water and away it went. The alligator searched, but it could not find, finally resigning itself to the fact that it lost that battle and the turtle  has the shell scars to prove it.