A Florida man risked his life to brawl with a 12-foot long alligator that attacked his dog.
Fisher Greene and his girlfriend, Kylee Nyiri were walking their dog at Riverside Park near the Little Econ River last week in Oviedo, Florida.
When the couple and their 3-year-old explosive detecting K-9, Mako, got too close to the water, a large alligator rapidly emerged from the river and snapped up the pup.
Greene became an everyday hero when he jumped onto the back of four-yard long swamp creature to save his furry companion.
Luckily for Mako, Greene’s attack startled the gator enough to release the dog, who was literally able to escape the jaws of death. Amazingly, the man was not injured during the rescue attempt.
Greene and his girlfriend immediately rushed their pet to an animal hospital for treatment, but did not report the incident until the next day.
By Sunday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) sent a trapper out to capture the alligator, which was deemed a nuisance, because of its size and the unprovoked attack.
Area alligator hunter, Jerry Flynn, told WSVN that the Econ river “does hold a lot of alligators.”
“A lot of them are in the neighborhoods and when the retention ponds get low or hot, then they tend to go back into the Econ.”
Flynn’s team was dispatched to handle the nuisance gator, and it was captured by his nephew, Billy Girard, who happens to be a friend of Greene’s. Under the program, the animal was euthanized.
“We sell the meat and the hides,” Flynn noted. “That’s how we actually make a living. We don’t get paid by the state.”
The City of Oviedo’s communications director, Lisa McDonald, told Fox News Digital that there are known to be “several large alligators” in the area, and that dogs are often prime targets.
“Dog owners are highly discouraged from walking their pets near any body of water due to the dense alligator population, especially during alligator mating season,” she said.
According to WFLA, Mako had wounds to his torso and front right leg from the gator bite.
“Mako should make a full recovery!” Greene preemptively told the outlet.
But according to a GoFundMe page Nyiri created to cover the cost of Mako’s medical care, the Belgian Malinois is in critical condition.
He had five puncture wounds, three broken ribs, and a mild hemothorax from the dangerous encounter.
A surgery was performed to repair the damage to his body, but Mako had to be transferred to a larger emergency animal hospital for continued treatment.
Fluid built up around his lungs on Monday and had to be drained. As of Wednesday, Nyiri, who works with Mako detecting explosives, said that bilateral chest tubes had to be added to keep more fluid from building, and his care team was not sure where it was coming from.
So far Mako’s donation page has raised more than $2,000 over the original $15,000 goal.
