Nation & World News
Florida woman jumps into pond, fights gator as it tries to kill her dog
By Cox Media Group National Content Desk
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Lori Beiswenger would do anything for her dog – even fight off a 7 1/2-foot alligator.
According to WFTS, Beiswenger, owner of Point O'Woods golf course in Inverness, was outside gardening with her 9-year-old terrier mix, Hope, on July 11, when she heard a scream. She turned and saw a gator pull the dog into a nearby pond.
"I was screaming her name, 'Hope, no!'" she told WFTS. "Then I started screaming, 'Somebody help!'"
Desperate to save her furry friend, Beiswenger jumped into the pond and started pulling the gator's tail. After the third tug prompted the gator to look her way, she got out of the pond.
Luckily, golf course volunteer Jodie Daniels had come to help. He waded into the pond with a golf club and then a shovel in an attempt to pull the dog out of the water. The shovel did the trick, but he and Beiswenger were in for a big surprise.
"It was quite a shock to pull the dog up and the gator is still attached to the dog," he told WFTS.
As Hope ran ashore, Daniels hit the gator with the shovel, and it swam away. A private company later trapped and killed the alligator, then sold the meat to a restaurant.
Hope, who had surgery, is recovering and will go back to the doctor this weekend to have her stitches taken out.
An Inverness gator thought he would make lunch out of this woman's dog. "He's now gator bites [at] some restaurant," she said.Read the amazing rescue story: http://wfts.tv/1fo5twg
Posted by ABC Action News - WFTS/TV on Thursday, July 23, 2015
