US Woman Battles Alligator To Save Her Dog In Thrilling Rescue

In a heroic act of bravery, Florida resident Kim Spencer saved her beloved dog, Kona, from the jaws of a 6-and-a-half-foot alligator during a nightly walk in Tampa, according to Bay News 9. Spencer and Kona were strolling near a lake when the alligator suddenly emerged and charged toward them. 

Despite her quick attempt to pull Kona away from the approaching predator, the alligator was too fast, and it clamped its jaws around the dog. In an incredibly courageous move, Spencer leaped onto the alligator's back and managed to pry open its powerful jaws to free her pet, as per a news report. 

Spencer, who described the incident as a stroke of luck, emphasized that it was a mixture of adrenaline and quick thinking that allowed her to save Kona. Fortunately, both Spencer and her dog escaped the dangerous encounter unscathed. The thrilling rescue has left the Tampa community in awe of her bravery.

“I hope she understands that she'll be okay and that we hate that she's in pain,” said Spencer. “I would never let anything happen to her.” Kimberly held to that word on Tuesday.

“I'm always afraid of gators, snakes, you name it. I'm not a nature girl,” said Kimberly, who is an elementary school teacher.

Those fears subsided when she and Kona encountered an alligator on their regular walk in the Westwood Lakes neighbourhood.

“We went down. I didn't see anything to be worried about,” said Kimberly of an area they walked with Kona on a leash near a neighbourhood pond. “All of a sudden, I heard a noise, and ten feet in, you could see. I saw its eyes, and I saw it turn.”

Kimberly says the gator came at them quickly.

“It had its mouth open ... it clamped down on her and it got her ... so I jumped on its back and pried its jaws open,” described Kimberly of the alligator, having Kona's head and upper body in its grip. “Once I got it out, I clamped its mouth shut and was holding onto its jaws, its mouth shut.”

Kimberly says the dog was freed from the gator's hold, and the reptile thankfully went back into the water.

“I wasn't letting it take my baby, that's it,” said Kimberly. “I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to her on my watch.” Kimberly was treated for bites to both hands. Kona is home from the vet with stitches; her injuries were mostly around the shoulder area.

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