LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A 52-year-old New Jersey man was attacked by an alligator on Sunday while fishing in Lake County, according to Florida wildlife officials.
The attack happened around 4 p.m. at a retention pond at the ninth hole on the Pennbrooke Fairways golf course near Leesburg, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident form states.
According to the report, the man’s left hand was amputated by the alligator, which retreated into the water with the body part. It was unknown how the alligator was able to grab the man, the report states.
Lake County Fire Rescue said the man was airlifted to an Orlando hospital for treatment. An alligator trapper later responded to the scene and “dispatched” the reptile, which measured in at approximately 9 feet, 2 inches long, according to FWC.
An investigation into the attack is ongoing, the report states.
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The 911 calls from the incident were released on Monday. One of the callers told dispatchers that the man had been walking around with blood on his hands, “moaning and groaning constantly.”
“There was a gator attacking a man in my backyard,” the caller said. “Some people now have stopped in their golf cart.”
She added that the alligator had gotten back into the water after “rolling around” with the man.
“He’s got black hair, so he’s not a senior citizen like most of us,” she explained to dispatchers.
Another caller told dispatchers that the alligator “took his hand off.”
“His hand is gone!” she can be heard saying.
The FWC said people should take the following precautionary measures near alligators to reduce the chances of conflicts with alligators:
- Keep a safe distance if you see an alligator. If someone is concerned about an alligator, they should call FWC’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286), and we will dispatch a contracted nuisance alligator trapper to resolve the situation.
- Keep pets on a leash and away from the water’s edge. Pets often resemble alligators’ natural prey.
- Swim only in designated swimming areas during daylight hours and without your pet. Alligators are most active between dusk and dawn.
- Never feed an alligator. It’s illegal and dangerous. When fed, alligators can lose their natural wariness and instead learn to associate people with the availability of food. This can lead to dangerous circumstances for yourself and other people who could encounter the alligator in the future.
Brandon Fisher with Gatorland told News 6 that as the weather gets warmer, alligators also start to become more active for mating season.
“Pretty much every body of fresh water has one. There will be one or there has been one in it,” Fisher said. “They get up and travel. They get up, and food dries up, and they go look for new food. When the water dries up, they go look for new homes and new bodies of water.”
Fisher explained that people should stay about 25 feet from the shoreline because alligators can leap.
He also advised to not be fooled into believing that a zigzag running formation will help you escape a gator’s wrath, as alligators typically hunt in that formation anyway with sensors on the side of their heads.
Additionally, he said to not make unnecessary noise in the water that could draw an alligator in closer, thinking it’s a vulnerable prey in distress.
“We have to be careful. They aren’t as mean and dangerous as people make them out to be,” he said.
The FWC administers a Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program (SNAP), with a goal of proactively addressing alligator threats in developed areas, while conserving alligators in areas where they naturally occur. SNAP uses contracted nuisance alligator trappers throughout the state to remove alligators believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property.
[LISTEN TO THE 911 CALLS IN THE AUDIO PLAYERS BELOW]