Woman mauled to death saving pet dog from alligator

A woman in the US has been mauled to death while trying to protect her border collie, according to reports.

Cassandra Cline, a 45-year-old schoolteacher, was walking her dog through a golf course near her holiday home on Hilton Head Island, along the South Carolina coast, when they were attacked by an alligator hidden in a lagoon.

Sam Chappelear, a regional wildlife co-ordinator at South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources, said that Cline and her pet had been walking “very near” to the edge of the water when the 8ft-long reptile struck.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“The alligator grabbed the leash instead of the dog,” Chappelear said. “There was some sort of tug-of-war with her trying to get the dog back via the leash, and in turn, the alligator drug (sic) her and the dog into the water.”

The attack was witnessed by several onlookers, who alerted emergency services. Cline was still alive when first responders rescued her and the animal from the water, but died at the scene, says ABC. The dog was reportedly retrieved wet but unharmed.

A spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources confirmed that an alligator had been lassoed in the lagoon and euthanised by wildlife department personnel.

Neighbours paid tribute to Cline, a familiar face in the Sea Pines resort community where she and her husband, originally from Syracuse, New York, spent a large part of their year.

Thomas DiMaio, who lives near the scene of the attack, said Cline was “very friendly” and that her tragic fate was “really sad”, but in line with her devotion to her pet.

“She didn't have any children,” he told the Associated Press. “The dog was her child, I guess.”

Another neighbour, Marci Tressel, told the local Island Packet that the islanders are “dog people” who love their pets and the outdoors. “We’d all be inclined to save our best friends,” she said.

Although Cline’s death is only the second fatality of the 20 recorded alligator attacks in the state since 1976, local man Roy Sokotowski, said that Sea Pines residents were “cautious” about the risks of alligators lurking in the shallows.

“I don’t get near the water without looking for their eyeballs,” he said.