How far would you go for your beloved pet?
Would you start a fight with a wild, dangerous animal in order to save your pup or kitty? Would you risk your own life to make sure your favorite furbaby is out of harm’s way?
Well, in theory, many would say they wouldn’t hesitate to fight off a wild animal to save their pet, but in real life nobody knows if they’d have the courage to do it if it happened to them.
Yet, a Florida man had the opportunity to prove his loyalty to his pup buddy, when the latter was attacked by an alligator during their morning walk.
Trent Tweddale of Wesley Chapel, Florida, was taking his 6-year-old pup, Loki, for his morning walk, when the dog approached the river and had the scariest encounter in his entire life.
An alligator grabbed his legs and attempted to pull him into the river.
“The dog had his front paws in the river here that swelled after all the rain, and the dog was attacked by a gator,” Tweddale told WFLA.
As the dog’s owner recalled it all happened “in the blink of an eye”. The wild animal was trying to drag the poor dog in the river while Tweddale was pulling him out of it.
“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 said.
That’s when the former staff sergeant with the US Army decided that his best bet would be to let go of the collar and attack the gator directly.
“So I let go of the collar,” he said, “and I got about knee-deep into the water and started pounding on the gator’s head until he eventually let go.”
Luckily, the man only suffered minor scratches from this fight, but the poor pup had to undergo emergency surgery so that vets could save his paws.
“When I pulled him back up, the bones were out and it looks like the arm was just hanging by a shred,” Tweddale said. “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.”
Now, Loki is recovering at home and he’s doing good so far.
But Tweddale is determined to catch the animal that caused so much damage to his best friend. So, with the help of Florida Fish and Wildlife, he has now set a trap on his property for the gator.
“The trapper did not have any bait, so I grabbed one of my roosters and we used him as bait for the trap. We haven’t had any luck yet,” said Tweddale. “We love our dog a lot and I’d fight tooth and nail for him.”
The story has gone viral since it was made public a little more than a week ago, and people have been praising the man for his loyalty to his canine friend and his bravery. Yet, Tweddale knew that he was only doing what anyone would have done if their best friend had found themselves in such a scary situation.
You can watch the detailed story as narrated by the protagonist in the video below.
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