Video shows alligator killing dog in Trinity River; authorities investigate
Texas Parks and Wildlife is investigating a video that appears to show a dog being killed by an alligator in what the post said was the Trinity River in Riverside, Texas.
The video, which was posted on Twitter on Tuesday, shows a dog swimming in a river. A large alligator swims up to the dog, and a struggle ensues. The dog escapes once but the alligator pursues the dog as it swims away. The dog then disappears under the water and the video ends.
The tweet says, “This video was recorded in riverside texas (sic) when the owner of the dog threw a stick in the trinity river for the dog too play fetch not knowing what was in it.....”
Riverside is a town of 510 people on the Trinity River in Walker County, Texas, about 75 miles north of Houston. According to DFW Wildlife, alligators can live in the area.
The video was originally posted on the Facebook page The Fish Dude’s Guide Service by administrator Richard Tatsch.
Tatsch said one of his friends, who he declined to identify, took the video at the Trinity River in Riverside in August and shared it with him a few days ago. Tatsch said he posted the video on his Facebook page to warn others about the alligator, but within 10 hours, he removed the video because “people were going crazy over it.”
He said people commenting thought those in the video sent the dog, who he said was a stray, into the water on purpose to be attacked. He said what happened in the video is being investigated.
“It was not intentional,” he said. “You only see a 40-second clip of what went on. All that’s under investigation.”
Tatsch said the dog in the video died.
The Walker County Sheriff’s Department and game wardens were investigating the video, he said. Tatsch said he reported the video to game wardens because he was worried a person would be attacked by the alligator.
“I didn’t want a child to get eaten,” he said. “There are a lot of people that fish under the bridge this time of year. I want people to know about it. That’s the thing. A dog is a whole lot less than a human in my eyes.”
A representative of the Walker County Sheriff’s Department said Texas Parks and Wildlife is handling the investigation. A spokeswoman with Parks and Wildlife declined to provide any details on the investigation.
The video was posted on the Twitter account @isthatzane. A direct message to the account went unanswered.
While the tweet says the dog’s owner threw the stick in the river without knowing the alligator was in it, many people replying said it appears those filming purposely sent the dog into the river knowing the gator was there.
One person in the video can be heard saying, “that’s not even cool man.”
As the dog escapes the alligator the first time, another person can be heard shouting, “no!” Another says, “go, puppy, go!” as the dog swims away.
“I know i (sic) set up when i see one! They didn’t yell or throw anything at the alligator, and this was their dog!?!? Yeah ok,” one person tweeted.
“They really didn’t love their dog. Most people would’ve thrown some rocks or something,” another person tweeted.
Tatsch disagreed with those sentiments, saying the video showed “a very tense moment,” and if those watching from the riverbank had tried to help the dog, the alligator would have attacked them.
“All I know is I saw it, and I didn’t want anybody getting killed because I used to swim 100 yards from where that dog was killed,” he said.
On Friday, the video had about 1,800 replies, 13,000 retweets and 22,000 likes.
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 4:53 PM.
