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'I Wasn’t Going Home Without Him': Man Dives Into Pond To Save Dog From Alligator

June 21, 2025

When Bonner Herring heard a sound he’d never heard before coming from his dog, Strike, he didn’t stop to think—he ran.

Bonner Herring / WWAY3 / wwaytv3.com

It was a morning like any other on Herring’s Southport, North Carolina property, which has been in his family since the 1950s. After letting Strike out and heading to his garden, he skipped a routine check of the nearby pond. It was a decision that nearly cost his dog’s life.

Herring was wrapping up his yard work when a chilling noise stopped him in his tracks: a scream from Strike, followed by a splash.

“Immediately I knew what it was,” Herring told WWAY 3. “There was no hesitation on my part.”

Grabbing a rake, he raced toward the water. “I could see ripples in the pond and ran in that direction,” he recalled. What he found was terrifying — Strike’s head barely visible above the water, farther out than expected, with a massive alligator gripping him.

The pond had seen gators before, but Herring had been monitoring one in the seven-to-eight-foot range that had recently appeared. That morning, however, he hadn't done his usual scan. Now, it was a fight for Strike’s life.

WWAY3 / wwaytv3.com

“I remember when I jumped in the lake I thought to myself — why in the heck does this thing have to be so deep? Because I was not touching the bottom,” Herring said.

But there was no turning back. He swam to his dog, locked eyes with him, and knew what he had to do.

“He just had this look of — please do something, Daddy, please do whatever you can,” Herring said. “I made the decision that I was not going home without him.”

He managed to pry Strike loose and cradled him under one arm. But as they tried to make it back to shore, the alligator surfaced again.

“He puffed up, postured — showed me how big he was,” Herring said. “He was much bigger than any gator I’ve seen in this lake ever.”

WWAY3 / wwaytv3.com

Against the odds, Herring and Strike made it back. He rushed his dog to a friend’s veterinary clinic, where X-rays revealed a broken leg. They were later referred to an emergency clinic in Wilmington for additional treatment.

It was in the waiting room, finally still and surrounded by strangers, when the emotional toll caught up with Herring.

“I lost it for a second. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t answer questions,” he said. A kind woman nearby offered a few simple words: “It’s going to be okay.”

Looking back, Herring doesn’t recommend others try what he did.

“Basically what I did is everything you don’t want to do,” he admitted. “You are no match for a mature boar alligator like this one was. And I’m just the exception. I’m lucky.”

Still, there’s no question in his mind — he would do it again.