A video that was made public late Wednesday evening showed the terrifying moment that a massive 10-foot alligator burst out of a pong in Florida this past week and killed an 85-year-old woman that was on a walk with her dog.
Gloria Serge was out for a walk with her small pup around noon this past Monday at a community retention pond where she lived in the elderly community of Spanish Lakes Fairways when the incident took place.
The alligator, which was reported by local media outlets to weigh in at close to 700 pounds, exploded out of the water and attempted to snatch up the small dog. Serge attempted to fight off the giant gator but ended up being knocked over before getting dragged out into the water.
A video was made public which shows the moment that the incident took place. The video does not actually show the alligator killing the woman.
As a specialist who specializes in trapping alligators in the state, Robert Lilly stated that it was very hard for officials to recover the woman’s body and remove the animal from the community pong.
“It was definitely a fight. [We] snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced,” stated Lilly. “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.”
WATCH:
BREAKING… @MyFWC on scene at Spanish Lakes Fairways in St. Lucie County capturing gator that may have attacked and killed resident walking their dog. @WPTV pic.twitter.com/Bwxgx2xTDH
— Jon Shainman (@JonShainman) February 20, 2023
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission explained that while alligators are still listed on the federal endangered species list, they can still be found quite easily pretty much anywhere in the state.
“Alligators occur in all 67 counties in Florida and can be found in practically all fresh and brackish water bodies and occasionally in salt water,” explained the state agency. “Although exact population figures are not known, Florida has a healthy and stable population of about 1.3 million alligators of every size. This population estimate is based on an estimated 6.7 million acres of suitable habitat.”
In the state of Florida, it is highly illegal to feed alligators because of the fact that feeding them teaches them to associate humans with food and causes them to lose their natural fear of humans. Additionally, despite the high number of gators present in the state, attacks agains people are still fairly rare as they normally only attack prey they know they can overpower easily.
