KISSIMMEE, Fla. (WSVN) — Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said a life jacket did much more than prevent a woman from drowning during an alligator attack in Central Florida earlier this year.
“What kind of injuries do they have?” asked a 911 dispatcher.
“We only have one injury,” said the caller. “The alligator bit her arm at the elbow. It’s a scary wound. It looks like it was trying to get infected pretty quickly. She’s going into shock.”
An eight-foot alligator ambushed two kayakers in the Tiger Creek Canal near the Osceola-Polk County line in early March.
The reptile bit the woman’s paddle in half, causing the kayak to capsize.
According to FWC, the woman was struggling to keep her head above water and yelled to her husband, saying, “There’s an alligator on my arm.”
He tried to pull her out, but the gator would not let go.
That’s when another kayaker paddled over to help.
He managed to get the gator to release the woman only for it to turn its attention to him, grabbing his life vest and pulling him underwater.
The man then stuck his fingers deep into the gator’s eyes, all while undoing the buckles on his life vest. The alligator then swam away with the life preserver.
Doctors were able to save the arm of the initial victim; however, FWC says the gator was killed in the attack. They believe it was being protective or territorial, having been triggered by the splashing of the paddle.
“There was a nest and multiple young gators nearby,” said Frank Robb, an alligator expert. “That could definitely have a piece or a part to play in this, especially, again, being a high public use area. Who knows? Many people have gone by there, and maybe she was at the end of the nerve situation there.”
Kayaking or canoeing in the Tiger Creek area is dangerous. Weeks after the attack, a woman was killed by a gator in the same area.
According to the FWC, she was canoeing in two-and-a-half feet of water when she went over a large alligator, causing it to thrash and capsize the vessel.
She landed on the reptile, was bitten, and later succumbed to her injuries.
Alligator expert Frank Robb says while tragic, attacks of this nature are rare.
“Alligators, crocodilians in general that we have in Florida, are very afraid of people,” he said. “They don’t want anything to do with you. This is a one-off. Again, just like us, they’re all unique individuals, but this is not something that you have to worry about.”
According to research conducted by the University of Florida and Centre College in Kentucky, most alligator attacks are caused by people engaging in risky behavior, as opposed to the animals acting overly aggressive.
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