The family’s beloved dog, Zeus, suffered multiple injuries after “a large alligator broke through our fence and attacked him,” owner Susan Alkhatib wrote on a GoFundMe page.
“The gator grabbed Zeus and dragged him back into the water,” Alkhatib wrote.
“All of a sudden, I couldn’t hear him anymore,” one family member recalled to WFLA.
“My dad came in frantic. I’d never seen him like that. He said, ‘The alligator just took Zeus.’”
German shepherd Zeus, smiling and happy before alligator attack. (GoFundMe)Photo by GoFundMe
Alkhatib and her family ran outside with flashlights and caught a glimpse of Zeus struggling in the pond with the gator still latched onto him.
The animal eventually “let go of Zeus” and the dog struggled to swim back toward his family — “wounded but fighting to survive” the distraught owner detailed.
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“We started yelling at him to come toward us,” Alkhatib told the outlet.
“When he got closer, he got tired,” she continued. “So we had to kind of go into the pond a little bit to get him.”
Broken fence in yard of Florida home after alligator charged through it to snatch German shepherd. (GoFundMe)Photo by GoFundMe
Zeus suffered a fractured, displaced jaw and multiple puncture wounds around his neck, and has undergone emergency oral surgery.
“The vet had to close internal mouth lacerations, manually realign his jaw, and wire it together,” Alkhatib said, adding that Zeus will have to wear a muzzle for four to six weeks, be syringe-fed a full liquid diet, then undergo another surgery in eight weeks to remove the wires and extract teeth.
Alligator that attacked dog Zeus in Wesley Chapel, Florida. (GoFundMe)Photo by GoFundMe
Donations to Zeus’ GoFundMe page will go to the dog’s recovery. It has raised nearly $9,500, as of publication, just shy of the $10,000 goal.
“The vet told us the gator had just missed his jugular — it looked like Zeus’s entire head had been in the gator’s mouth,” the horrified owner recalled.
“The fact that he made it out alive is nothing short of a miracle.”
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