An 85-year-old woman was attacked and killed by an alligator on Monday and the terrifying incident was caught on camera. Gloria Serge, a resident of the retirement community Spanish Lakes Fairways in Florida, was walking her small dog by the lake when the attack happened. The footage revealed that the massive alligator stalked the senior and her dog before striking.
Scroll down for more on this story.
Gloria and her dog, Trooper, were walking near a retention pond at Spanish Lakes Fairways when the attack happened. A 10-foot alligator sprung out of the lake and lunged at the small Shih Tzu.
Video footage from a wildlife camera revealed that the alligator stalked them before striking when Gloria had her back turned.
Gloria tried to pull her dog away but she lost her balance and fell to the ground. The gator ended up attacking her and dragging her into the lake.
A neighbor witnessed the terrifying incident and immediately called 911. Carole Thomas, 76, said she picked up a pole to try and pull Gloria away but she couldn't stop the attack.
In the 911 call obtained by TMZ, Carole can be heard saying, "There's a woman in the lake. The alligator's got her!"
The frightened neighbor describes to the operator how she tried to help by calling for Gloria to swim to the bank so she could stick out a pole for her to grab. But Gloria's body quickly went under the water. The call ended with Carole saying she could see a body floating on the surface.
When the police arrived, it was already too late and Carole's lifeless body was already floating on the water.
According to other residents, the gator was a neighborhood fixture that they called Henry.
One resident, who uploaded the wildlife footage on YouTube said: "He must have been EXTREMELY hungry because he has never done this before as far as I know."
"When I moved here, I discover him for the first time sunning under a tree. Since then, I have been studying him for quite some time, and he was very interesting. I gave him his name 'Henry,'" he says on his channel.
About two hours after the initial 911 call, local authorities finally captured the alligator with the help of trappers.
"It was definitely a fight," nuisance alligator trapper Robert Lilly told WPTV. "[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."
Henry measured about 10-11 feet long and weighed around 600-700 pounds. He was captured and later euthanized.
After the horrifying attack, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will be removing all the gators in the community lakes to get rid of potential threats.
Judy Murray, Gloria's next-door neighbor told TMZ that the department promises to clear 5-6 other lakes of alligators but they are not sure where the animals will be going.
Serious injuries caused by alligator attacks are rare in Florida, says The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, but residents are still warned to be careful and to keep their dogs away from the waters.
Alligator expert Brandon Fisher tells FOX 35 that alligators can get more aggressive during the breeding season.
"If he's been in there for a while, that's his territory. And in this time of year during the breeding season, what happens is these males get very defensive."
While Gloria, unfortunately, died on the scene, her dog, Trooper, survived the attack and now lives with family up north.
