Florida Woman Wrestles Alligators To Save Dog
From the archive: published Jul 23, 2015, 11 years ago. Details may have changed since.
A Florida woman wrestled an alligator to save her dog, Hope.
The 9-year-old dog was about to be devoured by the 7-f00t gator in Inverness, so Lori Beiswenger bravely sprang into action. Beiswenger said grabbing a hold of the alligator’s tail was both the “bravest and dumbest thing” she has ever done.
Lori Beiswenger jumped into a pond at the Point O’Woods Golf Course and grabbed the tail of the alligator, in what could have been a futile effort to save Hope. The Florida woman wrestling the alligator quickly found herself in neck-deep water. The scene could have rapidly turned deadly for both Beiswenger and her beloved dog.
After just three strong tugs on the tail, the alligator released released Hope from its jaws. The dog did not escape the horrific ordeal without injury. Hope suffered a severed artery during the alligator attack. Jody Daniels, a friend of Beiswenger, used a shovel to help Hope float out of the pond. She was rushed to a vet and underwent immediate surgery.
Hope’s chest and side were stitched, and she is now recovering well back at home.
Beiswenger, who runs the Point O’Woods Golf Course, sat down for an interview with Bay News 9 and WTSP to discuss the alligator attack on the dog.
“I wasn’t thinking. It was the dumbest, bravest thing I have ever done, but I wasn’t going to let her go. It was the worst scream I have ever heard from her. I just ran over and I saw them rolling around on the bank. All I could see was teeth. Gator teeth and her teeth. I said, ‘God, no this can’t be happening,’ and it was the scariest feeling in the world. I’m just grabbing it and that was right there. I just kept pulling in, saying ‘you’re not getting her, you’re not going out there,’ because I knew what he had in mind.”
Hope’s clash with the alligator was the third time she cheated death. Lori Beiswenger adopted the dog just a few days before she was going to be put down at a kill shelter, and was later hit by a car.
What do you think about the woman wrestling an alligator to save her dog?