A wildlife camera captured the horrific moment an alligator fatally attacked a lady walking her dog – while a neighbor spoke helplessly to a 911 operator.
The 85-year-old woman had her dog on a leash in a Florida retirement community near a body of water, footage obtained by Inside Edition shows. Ripples on the surface of the water could be seen approaching the woman, who appeared unconscious.
Her dog gravitated toward the water’s edge. The woman walked away from the water while her dog stood still, and suddenly a 10-foot-long crocodile emerged from the water and lunged at the dog.
The dog jumped away and the alligator could be seen approaching the woman. That’s when the video cut out.
‘There’s a woman in the lake! The crocodile got her! neighbor Carol Thomas, 76, says on a 911 call, “I think she’s gone.” Oh my God!’
The woman has been identified as Gloria Serge. She was pulled into the water by the alligator and died on Monday. Her dog, Trooper, survived.
“She was walking her little dog and the alligator grabbed the dog and she fell and he caught her,” Thomas told the dispatcher.
The dispatcher asked, ‘Is she alive?’
‘Yes, she’s alive!’ said Thomas. ‘He pulled her in! He pulled her into the lake!
Thomas said that she used a pole to try to pull Serge out of the water, but it was too late.
“There’s no way I could have gotten to her sooner,” Thomas told Inside Edition. “It’s horrible for her family. It’s just awful, awful. And her friends, I spoke to some of her friends yesterday who are devastated.
The alligator was known as Henry by neighbors in the Spanish Lakes Fairways retirement community in Fort Pierce. A pesky alligator hunter captured the reptile and he was tired and pulled into a pickup truck by several employees of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It was later sacrificed.
Authorities warned residents not to walk their dogs near lakes and waterways in the state, which are commonly infested with alligators.
Please contact our news team by emailing webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this one, check out our news page.