Alligator kills elderly woman trying to save her dog from attack

Wildlife commission officials loaded a captured gator into a truck after it killed an 85-year-old woman in Fort Pierce, Florida (Picture: St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)

A 10-foot alligator killed a woman who was walking her dog and tried to save her pup.

The 85-year-old victim was at the Spanish Lakes Fairways retirement community in Fort Pierce, Florida, when the alligator grabbed her dog, residents told WPTV. The woman tried to get her pet away from the gator, but was then attacked herself.

Neighbors said the alligator came out of the water suddenly and dragged the woman in, CBS News reported.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission searched for the alligator and the St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office supported with an aerial operation, according to WPEC.

A nuisance alligator trapper captured the alligator about two hours after the initial 911 call (Picture: St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)

‘The victim has been recovered and a contracted nuisance alligator trapper has captured the alligator involved in the incident,’ stated the wildlife commission.

A nuisance alligator trapper captured the reptile about two hour after the 911 call.

‘It was definitely a fight,’ said nuisance alligator trapper Robert Lilly. ‘(We) snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time. We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up.’

Photos and video footage from the Monday afternoon attack showed at least six people loading the restrained reptile onto a pickup truck.

The alligator emerged suddenly from the water and pulled the woman in, neighbors said (Picture: St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)

The woman was not immediately identified.

Her dog survived the attack, according to the wildlife commission.

The gator was estimated to weigh 600 to 700 pounds.

Several roads were closed in the area as officials investigated the incident.

The alligator was estimated to be 10 feet long and weighing 600 to 700 pounds (Picture: St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office)

Fort Pierce is located roughly 70 miles north of West Palm Beach.

It is not common for alligators to attack humans and fatalities are rare, according to the wildlife commission. An average of eight unprovoked gator bites requiring medical aid have occurred in Florida over the past decade.

Monday’s attack happened a day after a four-foot alligator was pulled out of Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn, New York. The creature was rescued in poor condition.

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