Another aligator attack

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060515/...ZhBHNlYwM3MjE-

Seems the aligators are getting restless..the reports are coming in thick and fast..

You need to post the full text of an article. Links in news sources die regularly due to archiving and the story will no longer be available to forum users.
There's a sticky post in the forum with the preferred format for posting articles.
I'll paste the full text below.

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2 More Fatal Fla. Gator Attacks Reported

MIAMI - The bodies of two women, both apparently killed by alligators, were found Sunday less than a week after a similar death in a state that had seen just 17 confirmed fatal attacks by the animals in the previous 58 years.

A 23-year-old woman staying at a secluded cabin near Lake George was attacked while snorkeling at a lakeside recreation area, said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

"The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth," Amigliore said. "They jumped into the water and somehow pulled her out of the gator's mouth."

The woman, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury, said Amigliore.

In Pinellas County, the death of another woman whose body was found early Sunday in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg also was blamed on an alligator, authorities said.

Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.

The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which "did play some part in the victim's death," according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.

"We don't know the condition she was in when this happened," said state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse.

It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.

Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.

On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.

Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.

What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

"As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more," Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. "They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks."

Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.

Thanks for posting the article Clay!

I wonder if the little drought where having has anything to do with the increasing number of attacks. I live close the the hillsborough river and can tell you that the amount of water has dropped allot. I have noticed more gators compressed into smaller areas due to decreasing water levels. With humping season here as well it has to make for more competition in smaller areas.

I'm sure it's a combination of factors..but seems that common sense has been abandoned in so many of these articles of gator attacks. Who in their right mind goes swimming in canals, water tanks etc with aligators in them? Or jumps into a dam to save their dog from an aligator?

Being from GA myself i used to think the same thing. but now that i have lived in FL for a little while it doesn't seem odd.

Where we grew up cooling off in the lake or tubing a little creek. The good ol boys down here swimming in creeks and rivers as well except there full of gators. I paddle the same river i was commenting about and have came very close to the gators there in the wild. Normally the only gators who attack are those that are used to humans. Whether it be because someone has been feeding one, or whatever. Besides that attacks happen in defense.

I recently helped a trapper capture one on one of my jobsites. I posted pics awhile back. It only became a threat after the bridge workers continued to feed it scraps at lunch. Then one day they had to work in the water. It cruised up scared them and we had to have it trapped. Even as we dragged it up on the bank it was calm never tried to attack.

Floridians have come accustom to being around them, just like swimming and the chance of shark attacks. Or living in the midwest around bears or what not.

Sure, I can understant being accustomed to them..but never forget they are wild animals who have the capacity to do serious damage. To me, swimming with gators is asking for trouble..its just a matter of time.

Maybe it's because I come from a country where there're massive crocs in most rivers and dams etc..you WONT find anyone swimming in them. Guess that paranoia for crocdilians has been carried with me to the US.

Don't get me wrong everytime i see someone swimming in any gator infested waters down here i look at my wife, and say there nuts. I wont take my little JRT paddling with me because i consider him gator bait. I don't let my kids near the waters edge when it looks like ambush territory.

Of course those same folks see someone like me catching a wild snake and i am sure there saying Hes nuts. LOL

A woman snorkeling in a Marion County spring and a homeless woman trespassing in a Tampa Bay-area backyard were found dead Sunday in alligator attacks, bringing to three the number of fatal strikes in less than a week. The third occurred in Sunrise last week.
The bloody week in Florida's waterways marks a stark departure for a state that had seen just 17 confirmed deadly encounters with alligators in 58 years.

The homeless woman found dead and dismembered Sunday morning had been killed as many as three days earlier, officials said. A homeowner found the body near Oldsmar in Pinellas County.
The woman apparently was alone, her purse and some drugs found nearby, and she had suffered alligator bites. Officials say the attack was a factor in her death but won't know an official cause for as long as four weeks.

A Tennessee woman killed Sunday afternoon was swimming with friends in Juniper Run in Ocala National Forest. Two of the friends tried to pry her body from the jaws of the alligator, gouging its eyes in a frantic effort to free her.
That incident came just five days after a Davie woman out for a jog went missing near a canal in nearby Sunrise. Her dismembered body was found the next day, and the alligator that attacked her was captured and killed Saturday, parts of the jogger's body still in its digestive tract.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said there have been an increasing number of alligator attacks for several reasons, including warmer weather and humans encroaching on alligator territory.
"The bottom line is, yes, the trend is increasing," said commission spokeswoman Joy Hill.

About 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the body of Judy Cooper, of Dunedin, was found -- her right arm sheared off, officials said -- in a canal in East Lake Woodlands, just north of Tampa Bay.
Cooper, 43, suffered "upper body trauma" from alligator bites, including severe wounds to both shoulders, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.
Cooper's sister, Dannette Goodrich, 55, said the family had not heard from Cooper for about three months, since she slipped in her drug treatment and started abusing crack cocaine again.
Sheriff's investigators said Cooper had been in the water for about three days. The Medical Examiner's Office found no obvious trauma that would have been a result of a homicide but did find alligator bites.
The medical examiner said the alligator "did play some part in the victim's death." The official cause of death will not be available for several weeks while blood tests are conducted.
Gary Goodrich, Cooper's brother-in-law, said officials told them her purse was found near the water.
"They don't know how she died. They know there was drugs involved. They found drugs at the scene," Goodrich said. "I guess she had rolled in the water. The alligator got her and took . . . [one of] her arms and part of her back."
Kelly Ferderber, 45, first saw the body Friday but thought it was garbage floating in the canal behind her home in East Lake Woodlands.
Sunday morning, her daughter, Ashley, 18, and son, Evan, 16, went to check out the floating mass. They used a boat pole to pull it closer. Then they saw a brown ponytail, a white ear, blue jeans with the pockets sticking out and a dark sneaker.
"I found out it was real, and I freaked out," Ashley Ferderber said.
Fish and Wildlife spokesman Gary Morse said a trap containing a dead chicken has been set in the canal, but they might not catch the gator responsible for the attack because it might have moved on to a different area.
Dannette Goodrich said Cooper had two children, an 11-year-old daughter and a 23-year-old son.
Cooper's daughter was hoping she would hear from her mother Sunday, Dannette Goodrich said. "I thought, it's a mistake; it has to be a mistake," she said. "My poor 11-year-old niece. This is Mother's Day."
While the discovery of Cooper's body shocked officials who had just been investigating last week's death of Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, in Broward County, they were even more stunned by another attack Sunday afternoon that killed the Tennessee woman swimming in a spring in Ocala National Forest.



Annmarie Campbell, 23, died before friends could pry her from the jaws of an alligator in a spring-fed stream that feeds Lake George, near their rented cabin seven miles south of Salt Springs in Marion County. Campbell, of Paris, Tenn., and three friends had rented a cabin on Juniper Run, a waterway that feeds Lake George.
The four were snorkeling in about 3 feet of water when Campbell and friend Jackie Barrett of Silver Springs were separated from Barrett's husband, Mark, and friend James Edward of Satellite Beach.
Jackie Barrett couldn't find Campbell in the water so she went back to the cabin. She then yelled to the two men to look for Campbell.
When the men found her in the water in the alligator's jaws, they gouged its eyes and pounded on its snout with their hands, said wildlife commission spokeswoman Kat Kelley.
One of the people in the party ran about a mile from the cabin to State Road 19 where they could get cell-phone reception and called 911, Kelley said.
"I understand they were gouging at eyes and trying to pry open the jaws," Kelley said. "These people are pretty much in shock. The guys had cuts or scrapes on their hands."
The men were told they should get checked at a hospital because of the potential for infection but had not done so as of late Sunday, officials said. They stayed at the cabin Sunday night and were not available for comment.
Angela Stefancik, 31, of Bunnell was at nearby Juniper Wayside Park on Sunday with friend Dawn Beavers, 30, of Palm Coast and four children. They swim and cook outdoors at the park every weekend -- a place they always felt safe because they could swim without fear of drowning or snakes.
"I don't think we're going to be coming here any more real soon," Stefancik said. "And it used to be you didn't worry about alligators."
Added Beavers: "But not anymore."

GATOR FACTS
HOW MANY: Today there are more than 1.5 million alligators in the wild in Florida alone.

SIZE: Males can be up to 15 feet long and weigh 400 pounds; females can be 8 feet long and weigh 160 pounds.

RANGE: Southern United States and Central America.

HABITAT: Swamps, rivers and lakes.

DIET: Fish, small mammals and birds. Young eat insects, worms and small fish. LATELY HUMANS.

LIFE SPAN: Little is known about longevity in the wild; there are records of 73 to 100 years in captivity.

STATUS: Formerly endangered, now threatened because of the protection given to them. Limited, licensed hunting is allowed in a few areas.

SENSES: Good binocular vision.

LOCOMOTION: Will slide on belly, walk or gallop for short distances when on the land. An excellent swimmer, uses its hind feet as rudders.

HABITS: Females are territorial and will guard and defend their nests. An adult will eat 20 pounds per week in hot weather, but no food during the winter. Males roar during the mating season, but the normal vocalization is a hiss.

REPRODUCTION: Mating occurs in open water. The female then goes to the thickest part of the marsh to build a large nest of muddy vegetation. A week later, she lays 30 to 70 eggs, which hatch 2 months later.