TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A family in Wesley Chapel is traumatized after their rescue dog was attacked by an alligator in their backyard.
A video captures a tense encounter where Zeus, a German Shepherd, stands tethered by a leash while an alligator lurks menacingly nearby, separated only by a fence—a moment the family now sees as a cautionary tale.
“Zeus uses a doggy door to come and go freely,” explained Susan Alkhatib. “Right now, we’ve sealed it temporarily because of the incident.”
Earlier this week, Zeus stepped outside like any other night, only this time, an alligator was waiting.
“Suddenly, I realized I couldn’t hear him anymore,” one family member remembered. “My father rushed in, visibly panicked, something I’d never witnessed before. He exclaimed, ‘The alligator just took Zeus.’”
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 alligator had just let go of Zeus,” Alkhatib said. “We started yelling at him to come toward us. When he got closer, he got tired. So we had to kind of go into the pond a little bit to get him.”
While News Channel 8 was interviewing the family, a gator emerged from the water again before slipping back in.
“I have a 7-year-old sister,” said one family member. “And I just think, if she was at the fence, would he have done the same thing to her?”
Zeus miraculously survived the attack. He suffered a fractured and displaced jaw, along with multiple puncture wounds around his neck.
“The vet said it looked like his whole head was in the gator’s mouth,” said Alkhatib. “Even he said, ‘I don’t know how he survived.’”
“I honestly can’t believe he is alive,” Alkhatib said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has sent out trappers, but so far, they have not been able to capture the gator.
Zeus is now recovering from several surgeries. The family has started a GoFundMe to help pay for his veterinary bills.
