PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A 43-year-old west-central Florida woman was hospitalized Tuesday afternoon after an alligator measuring nearly 8 feet long bit her while she was walking her dog, authorities said.
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials, the reptile attacked the woman while she was walking her dog on a leash along a small lake in Palm Harbor, Bay News 9 reported.
Wildlife officials said the woman was bitten on her right leg, the news organization reported. She was taken to an area hospital.
Deputies told me this gator was NOT shy. He stayed by the shore the whole time we were here, and they say he’d even come closer if they got closer. Trapper says one out of 50 gators is as easy to catch as this one. @BN9 pic.twitter.com/e0C8keBvLU
— Sarah Blazonis (@SarahBlazonis) June 8, 2021
FWC officers and a contracted nuisance alligator trapper were sent to the lake, WFLA reported. They pulled a gator that measured 7 feet, 7 inches long, the television station reported.
“When I rolled up here and I walked up here that alligator went right towards all of the police officers so it’s really obvious somebody was feeding that alligator and that’s not cool and that’s why the lady got bit today,” Gregg Brotman, a neighbor of the woman, told WFLA.
“You know as an adult walking by the water, you’re not seen as bait,” another neighbor, James Dowler, told the television station. “But anybody walking a small dog or even a midsize dog like that, you’re waiting for trouble.”
The dog was not injured in the attack, Bay News 9 reported
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