An 84-year-old lady in South Florida was bitten by an alligator on Thursday while out for a stroll with her dog, resulting in “serious injuries,” according to the authorities.
The woman was bitten on her right leg by a 7-foot-3-inch gator that bit her in North Fort Myers, close to a pond, according to a statement from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
According to Bradley Johnson, a spokesman for the commission, the woman was hospitalized after also suffering injuries to her wrist and arms. Johnson stated that while her health was unknown on Friday, her injuries were “significant.”
Johnson stated that the woman was walking the dog—which was unharmed—close to her neighborhood.
The animal was discovered by a nuisance alligator catcher following the bite from the huge reptile. According to Johnson, the reason the alligator was “humanely euthanized” was because fish and wildlife prioritize public safety above everything else.
According to the commission, human alligator bites are uncommon in Florida. Its most recent statistics, which ended in December 2022, show that there haven’t been more than twelve bites annually since 2017. During that time, there were 12 bites in each of the years 2017 and 2020. According to the commission, one person passed away after being bitten in both 2018 and 2019.
The commission warns residents of the Sunshine State to stay well away from alligators, to keep pets on leashes, and to avoid areas near bodies of water because pets are frequently alligators’ “natural prey.”
The commission also advises against feeding alligators and suggests swimming only in approved places during the daytime because gators are most active at night and dawn.
In Florida, gator assaults on humans are uncommon, although they do happen occasionally.
A 10-foot alligator tore off the right arm of a Florida man in 2023 after the guy fell into a Port Charlotte pond.
A guy on Florida’s Gulf Coast narrowly escaped an alligator assault the year before when he mistook the seven-foot-long reptile for a dog.