“I cannot make any sense of what’s happened. None at all,” Julia Meza said through tears during an interview withTodayon Tuesday. “She would never go near an alligator, she would never irritate an alligator.”
Meza’s daughter, Cassandra Cline, was walking with her dog near a lagoon around 9:30 a.m. on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, when an 8-foot alligator attacked the dog.
Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue and Sea Pines Security personnel arrived at the scene and found Cline, a resident of Sea Pines Living, in the water.
David Lucas, of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, toldABC Newsthat Cline was still alive when she was pulled from the water, but died at the scene.
Sam Chapplear, with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, told ABC that Cline had gotten into a tug-of-war with the animal to save her dog before being attacked herself.
The alligator was later found and euthanized, according to the site. The dog survived the incident.
Drew Martin/The Island Packet/AP
The Beaufort County Coroner, Edward Allen, scheduled an autopsy to be performed at the Medical University of South Carolina to determine Cline’s cause death, according to the sheriff’s office.
Now, Cline’s family and friends are remembering the woman they nicknamed “Sassy.”
“She was a wonderful, giving person,” Meza toldToday, noting that her daughter was a kindergarten teacher. “She’s been one for years and she loved her students.”
Sea Pines Living officials wrote in a statement on Facebook that they are “shocked and heartbroken” after hearing the news.
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the tragic loss of one of our Sea Pines property owners Cassandra Cline,” they wrote.
source: people.com
