Service dog killed by gator, owner committed suicide next day

Service dog mauled to death by gator outside Palmetto dog park

WFLA News
By: Victoria Price
May 24, 2019

PALMETTO, Fla. (WFLA) - PALMETTO, Fla. (WFLA) - Pet owners in Manatee County are sounding the alarm after a gator mauled and killed a man's service dog at Dog Leg Park at Buffalo Creek.

The attack happened Friday shortly before dusk. Sharil Dowling and other witnesses say the chocolate lab somehow got loose while outside the fence with its owner.

Next thing Dowling knew, the lifeless dog was slumped over a man's shoulders, covered in blood.

Dowling described the scene as horrifying but had previous feared such an attack was an accident waiting to happen.

"Most people, if they knew they were that close to marsh and gators, they wouldn't walk back there," she said. "I can't imagine the anguish that guy was in."

A line of trees just outside the dog park obscures wetlands, and both Dowling and other pet owners who frequent the dog park fear not enough people are aware of the dangers hidden away.

In the five years Tim Todd has come to Dog Leg Park, he knows of at least three dogs eaten by alligators. After Friday, he reached out to the county, demanding it put up warning signs.

"It was too late to do anything for that dog, but what could we do to help other people?" Todd asked.

Snake and gator warning signs were installed earlier this week.

News Channel 8 has learned the dog killed Friday, Java, was a service dog for Andrew Epp, a local man who suffered mental health issues. Epp was so distraught, according to family and friends, that he took his own life the very next day.
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Wounded veterans bond during nighttime gator hunt

To my friends back in New England, I still love our seafood but I have to tell you that gator tail is fantastic as long as it is cooked right. Fried Gator at the Lone Cabbage is out of this world.

Wounded veterans bond during nighttime gator hunt

Wounded Warriors Derek Stephens, left and Joseph "Buck" Parker, right, show off their catch Friday night on the banks of the Ocklawaha Prairie Restoration Area. A total of ten soldiers from the Wounded Warriors program went on a gator hunt on the restoration area Friday night, August 2, 2013. FWC gave them 11 "tags" to take gators. The event was hosted by the Marion County Sportsmen's and Air Boaters Association along with the St. Johns Water Management District.
Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner

Dad hits gator in head to save son

Joey Welch, Florida Child, Survives Gator Attack
(VIDEO)
Posted: 04/21/2013 A father and son canoe trip took a terrifying turn on Friday when the 6-year-old fell into the water and into the jaws of an eight-foot gator at the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach, FL reports Local 10.

"I heard these blood-curdling screams and I saw this gator that had his right arm in his jaw and I just freaked," father Joseph Welch told the news station. Watch the video above.

"He just swam to me and clamped my arm. He didn't wait for a second," six-year-old Joey said.

Dad then jumped into the water to rescue his son.

"I didn't want to play tug-of-war with the alligator and get his arm ripped off," he told WSVN 7. "So I started punching the alligator on top of the head as hard as I could."
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