EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. – An alligator bit the hand off a Florida airboat captain during a tour Tuesday afternoon in Everglades City, according to WINK-TV.
Witnesses said the Captain Doug's Everglades Tours boat operator, 63-year-old Wallace Weatherhold -- known as Captain Wally -- was feeding the alligator before the attack. Six tourists were onboard at the time of the attack, the report said.
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The alligator was captured, euthanized and dissected, and the captain's hand was removed from its belly. Wally and the hand were taken to a Naples hospital where doctors hoped to reattach it.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said a criminal investigation is pending. Feeding alligators is a second-degree misdemeanor.