DANIA BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) – A dog escaped an alligator’s clutches during an attack in a South Florida neighborhood.
The gator had Sabol in its grip, but she somehow survived.
The wounds on Sabol’s back, legs and underneath her body show she was bitten several times.
When Jason Burke, Sabol’s owner, found his dog, she was in pretty bad shape.
“I wish we could see what she did, but somehow she got away,” said Burke. “She was underwater at some point in the attack. She was completely soaked from head to tail when I found her.”
Burke had been walking Sabol at a nearby Delray Beach park when she ran away and got too close to a pond and in the gator’s grip.
Immediately after the attack, Burke rushed Sabol to an animal hospital. Doctors were surprised she made it there alive.
“It’s almost always fatal, and they almost never make it to clinic to do anything,” said Dr. John Brady.
“She’s a lucky dog,” said another vet, “that she eventually, obviously, got away.”
However, the fight did not end there.
A team of veterinarians spent two and a half hours performing surgery to save Sabol’s life.
Luckily for Sabol, doctors found no broken bones or damaged organs.
In light of the good news, doctors found something they could not remove during surgery.
“That dog will have a souvenir forever. She still has a gator tooth in her,” one vet said.
“Maybe get you a gator’s tooth collar,” said Burke while petting his dog.
The real heroes, though, are Sabol’s owner and the vets who helped save her.
“I can’t say enough thank yous,” said Burke. “They are really wonderful. Really took her, and she’s going to be OK.”
“I feel really accomplished when I removed the sutures in two weeks and watched her walk out the door with no other issues,” said Brady.
Veterinarians believe the gator that attacked the dog was about 6-feet long.
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