The man desperately dives to save his beloved dog from the jaws of an alligator (Video)

The rescue was captured on video by cameras placed in the area to document wildlife. Florida Wildlife Federation workers discovered the attack when they checked the camera’s memory card, according to the agency’s regional policy director, Meredith Budd. Richard Wilbanks, 74, was just walking Gunner, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, when he heard his puppy crying. A alligator in the backyard pond at his Lee County home had grabbed the dog and pulled it into the water.

He was walking along the pond’s shoreline near his home in the southwestern Florida village of Estero when a gator lunged from the water and grabbed the dog. Wilbanks jumped into the water and pried open the gator’s jaws, freeing the frightened puppy. Richard said it was adrenaline that sent him desperately diving into a pond to save his beloved dog from the mighty jaws of an alligator. “It was like a missile,” Wilbanks told the newspaper. “We were only about 3 feet away from it, but it struck like a snake. It had Gunner in a vise grip and I just rushed in.”

The video shows Wilbanks wrestling with the gator at the water’s edge

In the video, Gunner can be heard yelping and barking as the Richard grunts and struggles with getting the alligator’s jaws off the dog. A brutal fight between the alligator and the Wilbanks – who has a cigar in his mouth – ensues, with the man finally freeing the dog. Getting clear out of danger, Gunner runs out of the yard. Wilbanks and the alligator continue scrapping in the water. Wilbanks and his wife took Gunner to an animal hospital where doctors found a puncture wound. He said X-rays showed only some water in the lungs, and the puppy stayed at the hospital for a few days to recover. Watch the video, “Instinct just took over and adrenaline kicked in,” said Richard Wilbanks, who jumped up from his backyard chair for the rescue.