- An alligator killed an 85-year-old woman in a retirement village in Florida on Friday.
- The elderly woman was attacked after trying to rescue her dog from the alligator, per local media.
An 85-year-old woman was killed on Monday by an alligator while walking her dog in a Florida retirement community, wildlife officials said, per CNN affiliate WPTV.
The woman was out with her dog at Spanish Lakes Fairways, a 55-plus living community in St. Lucie, southeastern Florida, when the alligator grabbed her pet, WPTV reported.
She tried to rescue the dog from the alligator, which wildlife officials estimated to be 11-foot-long and weighing up to 700 pounds, but was bitten in the process, according to the local media outlet.
The woman, whose name has not been released, died as a result. Her dog survived, but its condition is unknown, CNN reported.
"Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of the victim," the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said in a statement, per CNN.
According to WPTV, a trapper was called to the scene, with the alligator caught about two hours after the initial call to emergency services.
Speaking to WPTV, the alligator trapper, Robert Lilly, said: "It was definitely a fight. [We] snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time.
"We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up."
The FWC said that serious alligator attacks are rare in Florida, with an average of just eight unprovoked alligator bites that require medical attention occurring in the state each year, per CBS News.