A Florida man has wrestled a 12-foot alligator after it lunged from the water and grabbed his dog.
The man and his partner had been walking the dog in Riverside Park in Oviedo, near Orlando, last week when the attack occurred, Fox 35 reported.
After the alligator snatched the pup, the man leaped on the reptile’s back. He wrestled the alligator until it unclenched its jaws from around the dog.
The dog—whose species is not known—was rushed to a local veterinary hospital with severe injuries after the ordeal.
Following the incident, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent a trapper to the area to remove the alligator. It was euthanized the next day.
“We knew that he was a dangerous alligator, a very large alligator,” alligator trapper Jerry Flynn—whose nephew euthanized the alligator—told Fox 35.
Flynn believes the alligator could have attacked a human.
Newsweek has asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for comment by email.
It is not uncommon to find alligators in the Riverside Park in Oviedo. In fact, Florida is home to around 1.3 million alligators, and they live all over the state.
They mostly prefer swamps, but they can be found in any waterway.
Attacks like this one remain extremely rare. However they can occur in areas where humans and alligators live in close proximity.
While most of the time humans and alligators co-exist, the FWC run a Nuisance Alligator Program to ensure that the reptiles never pose a danger to humans. When an alligator is displaying threatening behavior such as this, it is usually euthanized.
Alligators usually become more active in the warmer spring and summer months. They are particularly active now as it is their mating season.
During mating season, alligators may become more aggressive or territorial. Male alligators may become aggressive when looking for a mate, and females especially become territorial when they are guarding a nest.
During this time, it is not uncommon for alligators to be spotted wandering populated areas more often, as the males will typically travel greater distances when looking for a mate.
Just a few days ago in Pinellas County, a Florida alligator was spotted wandering at a Publix store, despite there not being any water around.
When officers from Pinellas Park Police Department arrived in the area they found the reptile wandering the sidewalk, about to approach a busy intersection. It eventually entered the Publix parking lot.
Officers relocated the alligator to an area away from people.
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