St Lucie County alligator attack: 85 year old Florida woman killed by 700 pound alligator while trying to save dog.
An 85-year-old Florida woman died Monday while trying to save her dog from a 10-foot 700 pound alligator after lunging at the animal without warning according to reports.
The freak attack occurred outside Spanish Lakes Fairways, a retirement community in Fort Pierce, WPTV reported.
According to residents, the unidentified octogenarian had been walking her pet, when an alligator suddenly lunged out of the water and grabbed it. The senior attempted to save her pet, only to be dragged underwater, CBS reported.
Miraculously the dog pooch survived, while the pet’s owner did not.
The identity of the victim was not publicly divulged.
BREAKING… @MyFWC on scene at Spanish Lakes Fairways in St. Lucie County capturing gator that may have attacked and killed resident walking their dog. @WPTV pic.twitter.com/Bwxgx2xTDH
— Jon Shainman (@JonShainman) February 20, 2023
‘It was definitely a fight,’
The elderly woman’s body was ‘recovered’ when an alligator wrangler was called in to trap the reptile.
‘It was definitely a fight,’ nuisance alligator trapper Robert Lilly said recalling the capture. ‘[We] snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time.’
Adding, ‘We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up.’
Accompanying photos and footage showed six people corralling the predator before loading it into the back of a pickup truck. Experts estimated that the beast measured around 10-11 feet long and weighed between 600 and 700 pounds.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has reportedly shuttered several roads in the area so they can launch a probe into the woman’s death.
While gators are reportedly not an uncommon sight in the area, neighbors claimed they’d never witnessed an attack like that before.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said alligators usually don’t attack people and that fatalities from gator attacks are rare. In the last 10 years, Florida has averaged just eight unprovoked alligator bites requiring medical attention per year, the commission said.
