Rose Marie Wiegand id as 80 year old Englewood, Florida woman killed by two alligators after falling into pond at gated community private golf course.
An elderly Florida woman killed by two alligators after falling into a golf course pond and attracting the predators as she desperately sought to get out of the waters only to be eaten alive has been identified as 80 year old gated community resident, Rose Marie Wiegand.
Investigators say that as Wiegand was struggling to stay afloat at Boca Royale Golf and Country Club in Englewood, Sarasota County, when her motions inadvertently led to the alligators swimming toward her.
The reptiles then grabbed her before she could escape.
Rose was pronounced dead at the scene, and an investigation is now ongoing.
‘She lives a couple doors down from me and she would bring our trash cans up if we were out of town’, neighbor Kurt Kauffmann told NBC 2. ‘Very kind. She always came up. She introduced herself when we moved in.’
‘They live in the community’
Trappers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission removed the alligators from the pond hours after Friday night’s attack, which occurred circa 7.47pm.
Of the two alligators removed, one alligator was 8’ 10” and the other was 7’ 7”.
It continued to remain unclear how the local resident came to fall in the ponds, that presumably she knew to be infested with the predators.
Kauffman and other neighbors told NBC2 that they are used to seeing alligators in the neighborhood but will now be more cautious.
‘They live in the community. They go from pond to pond sometimes you’ll see them crossing the road,’ Kauffman told NBC2.
‘I mean it’s pretty horrible and it’s shocking to think that that could actually happen. We see alligators from time to time but never thought that anything like that could happen,’ John Whitworth, a neighbor added according to NBC2.
While Rose’s death is just the latest in a recent string of alligator attacks in the southern United States, wildlife officials maintain that unprovoked alligator attacks are rare.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimated there are 1.3 million alligators in the state, the Miami Herald reports, but the state only averages ‘eight unprovoked alligator bites each year.’
