Video shows beloved family dog’s last moments before fatal alligator attack

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF/Gray News) - A South Carolina family is grieving after their beloved dog was killed in an alligator attack. The dog’s final moments were caught on Ring camera footage.

Bob Carnes says Nova, his family’s 85-pound German shepherd, loved to spend time on their dock cooling off by the water along the Intracoastal Waterway in Myrtle Beach. However, last week, a neighbor who shares the dock warned Carnes that a large alligator came after him and his dog, WMBF reports.

Carnes says the family set Nova’s GPS collar to prevent her from getting close to the water, but a piece on the collar was broken.

Nova disappeared from her family’s yard last Sunday, and Carnes says they spent hours searching for her. Their hearts broke when they finally checked the Ring camera footage and saw their beloved dog for the last time.

“It was difficult,” Carnes said. “We thought maybe she had ran up the road and got injured, but that was not the case. We watched the video, and it was very obvious what had happened. She was gone in seconds.”

The video shows Nova walking toward the dock, only to let out one final yelp seconds later over the sounds of splashing. It’s believed she was killed by the alligator the family had been warned about.

Carnes says Nova was a part of their family for six years, and she loved riding the Jet Ski and hanging out with her best friend, who is a duck.

“She wasn’t just a dog. She was a family member,” Carnes said. “She was amazing. She was a great family dog to the kids and the animals. She was full of energy.”

Now, he is warning others to be careful near the waterway, saying if a gator could get Nova, it could get anyone.

“She’s much stronger than my grandson or granddaughter, as far as swiftness, and weighs more,” Carnes said. “They need to be very careful about letting their kids out there along that waterway. It seems like it’s innocent when they’re playing by the water, but it happens very fast.”

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said alligators have killed four people in the last five years, including a 75-year-old man in Myrtle Beach in 2022. Gators killing pets is more common, but the SCDNR does not keep track of those numbers.

SCDNR’s alligator project leader, Morgan Hart, encourages everyone to keep their distance from the water and avoid walking along the edge or crouching down. She says it’s best to assume there could be a gator in the water below the fall line or past Columbia. She also stresses not to feed alligators if you see them or give them extra scraps if you are fishing near them.

Hart says that an alligator killing a person is highly unlikely.

“These alligators aren’t actively hunting people,” she said. “They aren’t monsters. You’re actually more likely to get struck by lightning twice than you are to be killed by an alligator.”

For more safety tips, click here.