00:00A 31-year-old hiker viciously mauled by an alligator while swimming in a Florida state
00:05forest on a gorgeous sunny afternoon, as her boyfriend desperately tried to wrench her from
00:10the gator's jaws, urging paramedics to rush to the scene to save his lover. Who was Brittany Clark,
00:17the hiker who was fatally dismembered by a giant 13-foot gator in the Econ Lakachi River? Here's
00:23what you need to know. A relaxing hike turned tragic on June 28th after a Florida woman was
00:29fatally attacked by a massive 13-foot alligator in a devastating surprise attack. The victim,
00:3531-year-old Brittany Clark, was reportedly swimming with her boyfriend and best friend
00:39in the Econ Lakachi River at Little Big Econ State Forest, nearly 30 miles inland,
00:45when the monstrous gator suddenly lunged from the water and locked its toothy maw on her,
00:50ripping her arm completely off. Officials said Clark, her boyfriend and best friend,
00:55had stopped to swim during their relaxing hike, and that Clark was standing in just three feet
01:00of murky water, when the alligator snapped onto her. Clark's best friend on the trip,
01:05Jaden Hernandez, said the trio even joked about the quote, air bubbles in the water,
01:09minutes before the beast attacked. As the alligator pounced on Clark, her boyfriend,
01:14Chance Allison, desperately tried to fight off the beast. Allison heroically freed her arm,
01:19but the gator instantly clamped onto her other arm. Eventually, the alligator released her,
01:24and they were able to bring Clark to shore. Harrowing audio from the frantic 911 call obtained by the
01:30Post revealed details of the horror attack, with a woman describing Clark's injuries as, quote,
01:36horrible.
01:36Okay, how bad is the bite? Horrible. Her arm is, okay, almost is it, okay, both her arms, both her
01:42arms, both her arms,
01:43both her arms are thin. Are off, like, basically.
01:47Yeah, okay, okay. No, I'm on, and I'm on that one one.
01:51One of her arms completely off, and the other one's, like, attached barely. Please, hurry, please, please, please.
01:58Please, please.
01:59Officials confirmed that Clark died from her injuries while on the way to the hospital.
02:02Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Chad Weber said an investigation found
02:09no signs that anyone acted maliciously toward the alligator in a way that would have provoked the beast.
02:14Right now, in this part of our investigation, it doesn't seem like they were doing anything that was malicious to
02:18an alligator.
02:19It could be any number of things. You know, with low water levels that we have, we are coming into
02:26the end of mating season.
02:28Alligators become very territorial, so it's any number of things, it's really hard to speculate and pinpoint what the exact
02:35reason was.
02:36Officials said that following the attack, they captured and killed two gators,
02:39a 13-foot gator near where Clark was badly bitten, and a 12.5-foot gator a half a mile
02:45away.
02:46Samples from the beast have been sent to a lab to determine if one of them is responsible for the
02:50vicious attack.
02:51Hernandez, who can be heard pleading with first responders on the devastating 911 call, paid tribute to her friend in
02:58an emotional Facebook post.
02:59We called for help, and it felt like eternity talking to the dispatcher, but it was only 12 minutes.
03:0512 whole long minutes of my best friend holding it together, being the strongest person in the world, she wrote.
03:12Anybody else would not have even made it out of that f***ing water.
03:15She was so strong, and I always looked up to her and will forever.
03:19I just want my best friend, man.
03:21In an exclusive interview with The Post, Clark's grieving father, Robert, called for wildlife authorities in Florida to do more
03:28to control alligator populations and alert people to the danger.
03:32Paying tribute to his daughter, the middle child of three siblings who grew up as a military brat between Florida
03:37and California,
03:38Robert said his daughter was, quote, wonderful and was always thriving to do better.
03:43A GoFundMe appeal set up by Brittany's aunt to help with the cost of the funeral has so far raised
03:47more than $6,500.
