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Trappers: No Sightings Of Gator That Snatched Dog In Sunrise

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SUNRISE (CBSMiami) – Residents of a Sunrise neighborhood are on high alert Thursday after a gator, that snatched a 50-pound dog Tuesday night, remains swimming free in the neighborhood lake.

It appears that not only one gator is lurking around the lake, but two remain in the water in the neighborhood of Residences at Sawgrass Mills.

WATCH Ted Scouten's report, click here.

Trappers, at the lake since Wednesday, have not been able to capture either animal. They said there were no sightings of the gators Thursday, most likely because of the cooler weather.

Jessie, a mixed-breed 50 pound dog, went out around the corner and went off the seawall Tuesday.

"I saw splashing," said Jessie's owner Taylor Byers.  "I heard her just yelp for maybe 10-15 seconds."

Jessie was snatched by the gator and never seen again. Byers rushed over but it was too late, her beloved dog was gone.

"I ran out and as soon as I was right here, I saw the shadow of her getting pulled under," she said.

Hours before the gator got the dog, Claudia Loelke, a resident, captured a video of a large gator in her backyard eating a duck.

Loelke is concerned that there is a hungry, fearless gator lurking around.

"It's just a little nerving," Loelke said,  "because you don't know  how close they're going to get, where they're from, the gators, if they've had contact with humans before or not.  But I would not want to risk having my children outside or any pets."

Ariel Balroop, a couple doors down, has young girls. Her husband snapped a picture of what might have been the same gator.

This is just feet from where her children play—well used to play as outside-time has been restricted while the gator is loose.

"They're very, very close," Balroop said. "If they're bold enough to come up and grab a dog or a duck from our back yard, it's very concerning that they can grab a young child."

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