ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – What began as a normal outing on the Intracoastal Waterway turned into a nightmare when the family dog fell into the water and was attacked by a shark.
A 12-pound, 9-year-old Yorkie named Maddie survived her encounter with a shark, but that encounter came with a price. Maddie’s pelvis was broken in three locations and now she is on a long road to recovery.
The near-deadly encounter happened this past weekend on the San Sebastian River which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
Maddie’s brush with death happened while boating with her owners – Bill and Terri Hoge. While the three were traveling back to their boat dock, Maddie walked over to the bow of the boat, lost her balance, and fell into the water.
“We turned the boat around. We were looking for her and then she popped up and was swimming. She was in the prop wash, and we were like, we will just laugh about this, get her in the boat, and learn our lesson. As we approached her and pulled up next to her, she disappeared,” Bill Hoge said.
“It seemed like an eternity, but it was like 10 seconds that she was under, and, of course, I’m freaking out. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ll never see her again,’” Terri Hoge said.
Ten seconds had passed before Maddie resurfaced. Terri said she jumped in the water, grabbed Maddie, and handed the dog over to her husband who quickly noticed Maddie was bleeding pretty badly. He initially thought Maddie was sliced by the boat’s propeller.
“We saw the really bad cut in her thigh so we’re like it had to be the prop,” Terri Hoge said.
The couple rushed Maddie to an animal emergency room. Hours later after leaving her at the hospital, they received a phone call from the vet who was treating Maddie.
“They’re like, we don’t think it was a prop. The vet told us there were six to seven puncture wounds in Maddie,” Terri Hoge said.
“Deep punctures wounds. The vet told us she called her colleagues around the country to get some information on what this could be and they all said it was a shark,” Bill Hoge said.
The boat propellor would have sliced Maddie in half. Experts believe the shark may have shaken Maddie as she was pulled below the surface of the water and then let her go.
The combination of shaking while biting down is what they believe led to Maggie’s broken pelvis. Maddie’s owners think the shark that attacked her was much smaller than the bull shark that was recently captured in the same waters. They also believe Maddie may have put up a good fight.
Given how fast Maddie was attacked in what has been described as an area of the Intracoastal Waterway where water was only 10 feet deep, Maddie’s owners said they are now worried about others who participate in activities in the intracoastal; activities that involve getting into the water.
“There’s some big fish in there. I’ve caught some 300-pound bull sharks in there and I’ve seen 300-to-400-pound lemon sharks in there. Just, be careful,” Bill Hoge said.