NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. (WSVN) — Deputies raced to a Florida neighborhood after an 84-year-old woman was forced to fight for her life against an alligator.
Speaking from her hospital bed, North Fort Myers resident Del Boppel opened up about Thursday evening’s wildlife encounter. She said she was taking her dog on their routine walk when things took a terrifying turn.
“It was like a torpedo. I have never seen anything move that fast in all my life. I didn’t have time to think,” she said.
Boppel described her brush with the large reptile as the scariest dog walk she’s ever experienced.
“All of a sudden, I had a premonition. I’m telling you, it was like, ‘Uh-oh,'” she said.
That gut feeling was a seven-foot gator about to lunge right at her.
Body camera video captured neighbor Patty Cuppy speaking with deputies.
“My shower’s right there. I opened up the window to let the heat out, and I heard somebody screaming and screaming,” she said.
“That alligator took off like 35 miles an hour, and I’m not joking,” said Boppel.
Boppel said she got close to the pond at a mobile home park when she saw a gator’s eyes looking back at her.
Before she could think of anything else, Boppel said, she tossed her small dog up in the air. Then the gator chomped.
“She took a chunk out of me,” she said.
Cuppy described the immediate aftermath of the attack.
“[Del] was walking the dog. When I got here, the dog was covered in blood, her leg is completely exposed, from her knee down to her ankle,” she said. “[Del] was very calm, she was very collected. This is an 84-year-old woman.”
When she heard Boppel’s screams, Cuppy said, she ran out to help her neighbor.
And the gator got her leg and started to drag her down towards the water, and she just started kicking with her left leg. I mean, unbelievable kicking,” said Cuppy. “She hit it in the snout, and it let go, so she just kept fighting and fighting, and she told me, she was, ‘I knew if it got me to the water, I wasn’t going to make it.'”
After a few good hits, the gator did scurry away, but not until it took a chunk out of Boppel’s leg and fingers.
But this 84-year-old is a fighter.
“She has really high spirits. She sounded very good. She was really positive and upbeat,” said Cuppy.
Back at the hospital, the mood was lighthearted.
“So who would you save first, if it was a kid or the gator?” someone asked Boppel.
“Probably the dog,” said Boppel as she laughed.
Boppel said she has complained to her community about the big gators, but nothing was ever done.
After the attack, officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they were able to track down the gator and remove it.
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