Tragically, an elderly Florida woman lost her life on Monday while valiantly attempting to rescue her beloved dog from a menacing 10-foot alligator.

A shocking incident happened just outside of the beloved Spanish Lakes Fairways retirement community in Fort Pierce, according to WPTV.

Numerous locals reported that the unknown octogenarian had been walking her beloved dog when an alligator lunged from the lake and took it. Though she valiantly tried to save the pup, CBS stated that she was dragged beneath the water’s surface.

Despite the pup’s lucky escape, unfortunately, the woman did not share in its fortune.

The body of the victim was ultimately discovered when a specialist in alligator wrangling arrived to ensnare the wayward creature.

“It was definitely a fight,” Robert Lilly, a nuisance alligator trapper, fondly remembered the capture as he recounted it. “[We] snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time.”

He continued, “We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up.”

Images and videos of the event illustrate six individuals wrangling with a creature estimated to be around 10-11 feet long and weighing between 600-700 pounds. As they eventually managed to load it into the back of a pickup truck, experts speculated that this was an impressive feat for such a huge animal!

In order to investigate the recent death of a woman, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has taken drastic measures and temporarily closed off several roads in their vicinity.

Although alligators are known to inhabit the area, neighbors stated they had never encountered such a ferocious event like this before.

Shockingly, a 4-foot-long alligator was found in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Lake over the weekend – an area frequented by families with young children. Authorities responded immediately and moved the gator from its location quickly for safety reasons.

According to Meghan Lalor, a Parks Department representative, the reptile is likely an abandoned pet that its owner chose to let go in a public waterway.