An elderly woman died as a result of an alligator attack in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Monday.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that 85-year-old Gloria Serge was walking her small dog near a retention pond in the Spanish Lakes Fairways, a living community for those 55 years and older, when the alligator attacked.
The report from the commission said the 10-foot alligator came out of the pond and knocked over the woman before dragging her into the water by her foot.
Witnesses to the attack spoke to WPTV-TV that the alligator tried to get at the woman’s dog but then attacked the woman when she tried to save the dog.
“I heard kind of like a commotion and I looked out and I saw the dog and I saw my neighbor,” said a neighbor named Carol. “I just remember her coming up and you know, pushing her hair out of her face, and getting air.”
She said that the victim told her she couldn’t swim toward the edge because the alligator had her. She says she is haunted by her inability to help her neighbor.
WPTV captured footage of a nuisance alligator trapper restraining the alligator.
“It was definitely a fight,” said Robert Lilly to WPTV. “We snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time. We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up.”
The alligator was estimated to weigh between 600 and 700 pounds and measured between 10 and 11 feet long. Officials believe there are about 1.3 million alligators in the state of Florida, but attacks on people are very rare.
The woman’s dog survived the attack.
The city of Fort Pierce lies about 67 miles north of West Palm Beach.
Here’s a local news report about the incident:
Woman killed after being attacked by alligator in Ft. Piercewww.youtube.com
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