An elderly woman died Friday in an alligator-infested pond near her home at a Florida country club.
The woman fell into the basin near her home, the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club, and she struggled to stay afloat, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) said.
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Witnesses confirmed that two alligators swam up to her and grabbed her while she was in the water.
The woman, whose identity is unknown, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Englewood Fire Department determined the incident occurred near Cayman Isle Boulevard and Golf View Drive at approximately 7:47 PM
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) trapper removed the alligators from the pond.
An investigation is underway – it is not yet clear whether the large reptiles were involved in her death.
Alligators are mostly found in Florida, Louisianaand other southern states and have already claimed the lives of several people in 2022.
On May 31, 2022, a 47-year-old man, later identified as Sean Thomas McGuinness, was found dead in John S. Taylor Park in Largo, Florida, with a severed arm.
Paul Cozzie, the director of Parks and Conservation Resources in Pinellas County, said: The New York Times that “he died as a result of an alligator attack,” which was the first fatal alligator attack in Florida since 2018.
A few weeks later, on June 26, Fox news reported that a man from South Carolina… killed after an 11-foot alligator attacked him and pulled him into a retention pond.
These two deaths mark the first in 2022, but there are multiple attacks in between.
While an exact number is unclear, there have been at least five attacks in which people have survived.
This month turned a six-year-old bitten by an alligator during a family trip in Louisiana.
On June 22, Samuel Ray told: WRAL that he was attacked by an alligator while playing catch near a pond in Florida.
“It was about a foot from the water,” Ray said.
“And as soon as I put my hand on the ball, I bent down and picked it up. Then I saw the eye of the alligator. It fell out and it was so fast, it was like a lightning strike.”
Just days before Ray’s attack, a man suffered non-life-threatening injuries while rescuing his dog from an alligator attack. WCSC.
As of November 2021, Florida has seen an average of eight unprovoked bites a year, but the risk of being seriously injured during an unprovoked incident is about one in 3.1 million, notes the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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