Steph Deschamps / September 29, 2023
The reptile was extracted from the water of a canal not far from botanical gardens and euthanized, according to the local sheriff's office. The dive team also discovered human remains of an adult person in the waterway.
The identity of the victim has not been released, and an investigation is still underway. It has not yet been determined whether the alligator was responsible for her death or not.
A local resident said he was walking nearby and spotted the alligator with a body in its fangs. He ran to the nearest fire department to alert the authorities.
Statistically, an alligator attack is very rare and almost never fatal. Only two fatal attacks were recorded this year in Florida.
Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists just 10 fatal attacks by these reptiles in the southeastern USA between 1999 and 2019. During this period, five times as many people were killed by dogs, and twelve times as many by lightning.