A Florida man claims he was successfully able to fight off an alligator who had grabbed his 6-year-old rescue dog and was attempting to pull him into the water, WFLA reported.
Last week, former Army staff Sargent Trent Tweddale was walking his pup, Loki, on their Wesley Chapel farm in Pasco County when the deadly gator first attacked.
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As Tweddale explained, Loki had gotten just a little too close to the water, prompting the alligator to emerge.
“[He] had his front paws in the river here that swelled after all the rain and the dog was attacked by a gator,” the pup’s owner explained .
According to Tweddale, the alligator was nearly 13-feet long and fully intended to pull Loki into the water. However, his owner wasn’t about to let his beloved pup go down without a fight.
The Florida man said he engaged in what he would call a “tug-of-war” of sorts with the deadly predator, which included throwing a good punch or two.
“I grabbed the dog’s collar to try to pull him back and I ended up in a tug of war match with this gator and the gator was not letting go,” he recalled to WFLA . “So I let go of the collar and I got about knee-deep into the water and started pounding on the gator’s head until he eventually let go.”
Luckily both man and dog made it out of the scuffle alive, but Loki fared far worse than his owner.
While Tweddale only reported minor scratches to his hand, his dog actually had to undergo emergency surgery to save his front leg, which had nearly been severed.
“When I pulled [Loki] back up, the bones were out and it looks like the arm was just hanging by a shred,” he explained. “They put metal plates and screws in and were able to reconstruct it that way. We’re hoping that he can regain full use of his paws after this.”
While Loki recovers from his injuries, Tweddale said he’s on the hunt for the gator who’s responsible.
He’s actually teamed up with Florida Fish and Wildlife to set some traps around his property in the hopes of catching the creature.
“The trapper did not have any bait, so I grabbed one of my roosters and we used him as bait for the trap,” Tweddale explained. “We haven’t had any luck yet.”
He added, “We love our dog a lot and I’d fight tooth and nail for him.”
h/t: WFLA
