Golf Course Volunteer Saves Dog From Gator
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A golf course volunteer is credited with saving a dog after it was taken by an alligator.
"Just screaming, it was the worst screaming I ever heard," said Lori Beiswenger.
Beiswenger said she knew immediately Hope, her dog of nine years, was being attacked by an alligator.
"I said God no this can't be happening and it was the scariest feeling in the world," she said.
Beiswenger, who own the Point O' Woods Golf Course in Inverness, said the seven-foot gator was taking Hope into a pond. So she jumped in the water and grabbed it by the tail.
"I jumped in, grabbed the tail and pulled him back and he starting thrashing and rolling," said Beiswenger.
Up to her neck in the water, Beiswenger kept pulling on the gator's tail.
"The third time I did he turned around and looked at me," she said.
Fearing for her life, Beiswenger got out of the water. That's when course volunteer Jodie Daniels arrived.
"I thought the dog's dead because all I could see was the whites of its eyes," said Daniels.
He grabbed a golf club and waded knee deep into the water but couldn't reach Hope. So he grabbed a shovel and was able to float Hope's body out of the water and pull her back to the shoreline.
"It was quite a shock to pull the dog up and the gator is still attached to the dog," said Daniels.
"When he pulled her out she started running up the bank and the gator did too," said Beiswenger.
Hope suffered several wounds including a severed artery. But, after surgery and plenty of stitches Hope is slowly getting back to normal.
"It's a miracle it's really a miracle that she survived it," said Beiswenger.
Trappers were able to catch the gator and put it down.