TERRY, IT’S ALMOST TOO MUCH TO IMAGINE. YOU CAN SEE HOW CALM AND PEACEFUL THIS LAKE HERE IS BEHIND ME. BUT A HORRIFYING SCENE UNFOLDED HERE JUST AROUND NOON TODAY. NEIGHBORS WHO LIVE HERE TELL US THAT THIS 85 YEAR OLD WOMAN WAS WALKING HER DOG ALONG THE BANKS WHEN SUDDENLY A TEN FOOT LONG ALLIGATOR LUNGES OUT OF THE WATER ATTACKS AND KILLS HER. THIS IS CELL PHONE VIDEO TAKEN BY A RESIDENT AS TRAPPERS PULL THE TEN FOOT ALLIGATOR OUT OF THIS POND. PEOPLE HERE IN SPANISH LAKES FAIRWAYS SAY THE GATOR OFTEN SAND ON THE BANKS. TODAY, FWC SAYS IT ATTACKED AND KILLED AN 85 YEAR OLD WOMAN AT APPROXIMATELY 1207 THIS AFTERNOON, OUR EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER RECEIVED A CALL THAT THERE WAS AN INCIDENT IN THIS PARK, WHICH IS SPANISH LAKES, FAIRWAYS, WHICH IS LOCATED JUST WEST OF 95 OFF ENDURO ROAD, INVOLVING A RESIDENT AND AN ALLIGATOR. THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE HELICOPTER HELP LOCATE THE ALLIGATOR AND TRAPPERS, CAME IN AND CAUGHT IT LURKING ON THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE. YEAH, HE FELT PRETTY GOOD. DEFINITELY FELT PRETTY GOOD. SNAGGED HIM ON THE BOTTOM AND HE NEVER SURFACED. HE STAYED DOWN THE WHOLE TIME. WE WERE ABLE TO GET A SECOND HOOK IN HIM AND THEN GET A HARD LINE ON HIM SO WE COULD GET HIM UP. TRAPPERS SAY ANY NUISANCE GATOR OVER A FOUR FEET LONG CAN BE LEGALLY REMOVED FROM A RESIDENTIAL LAKE. LIKE THIS IS BIG ENOUGH TO BE REMOVED. HE SHOULDN’T BE HERE. YEAH, DEFINITELY. FWC IS OFFERING MANY DETAILS. NEIGHBORS SAY THE VICTIM WAS WALKING HER DOG. IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER THE GATOR PULLED HER INTO THE WATER AND IF SO, WHETHER SHE WAS ABLE TO GET BACK OUT. IT ALL WAS A SHOCKING REALITY FOR PEOPLE WHO LIVE HERE. SO I WANTED HIM OUT OF HERE. I WENT AND EUTHANIZED AND REMOVED AND THEN I SAID, WOW, THAT’S A BIG ONE. NEVER SEEN THE ALLIGATOR THAT CLOSE TO ME. THAT BIG. AND THAT ALLIGATOR IS NOW GONE IF THEY GOT THE RIGHT ONE. RESIDENTS HERE TELL ME THERE’S LOTS OF ALLIGATORS IN THESE LAKES ALL AROUND. SOME OF THEM COME UP IN THEIR BACKYARDS AND SUN UNDER THEIR CARS. AND IN FACT, IN THIS VERY LAKE, THEY S
Woman describes harrowing moments trying to save neighbor fatally attacked by alligator
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Updated: 12:33 PM CST Feb 21, 2023
Sister station WPBF spoke with the woman who watched as her neighbor was pulled away in the jaws of an alligator right behind their homes. She says she tried to help, but by the time she could reach her, it was too late. "I saw my neighbor... the dog running up, the neighbor being down and bitten on the leg by an alligator and pulled into the water," Carol said. So the 77-year-old ran and called 911, then went back out and screamed for her friend to fight. "I just remember her pushing her hair out of her face and getting air, and I'm saying swim.... and she's saying I can't the gator has me," she said. Carol then ran to her garage and got the longest pole she could find. "And I thought, well, I'll put that out in the water and hook her or hit him... and she was not there anymore," she said. She knew the danger of getting closer, so, hands tied, she watched for her, helplessly. "It just haunts me right now. There's nothing I could do, I could not get in the water," she said. Carol described her friend as quiet and kind saying, "she was a widow, and she had many good friends here, and she loved her dog." Carol says the dog survived the attack, and it haunts her that her friend didn't, too. "I never woke up this Monday morning and thought that I would be watching someone die being taken under by an alligator," she said. Authorities from Florida Fish and Wildlife are reminding residents that there are more than 1 million alligators in the state, and they can be found in any body of freshwater.
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Sister station WPBF spoke with the woman who watched as . She says she tried to help, but by the time she could reach her, it was too late.
"I saw my neighbor... the dog running up, the neighbor being down and bitten on the leg by an alligator and pulled into the water," Carol said.
So the 77-year-old ran and called 911, then went back out and screamed for her friend to fight.
"I just remember her pushing her hair out of her face and getting air, and I'm saying swim.... and she's saying I can't the gator has me," she said.
Carol then ran to her garage and got the longest pole she could find.
"And I thought, well, I'll put that out in the water and hook her or hit him... and she was not there anymore," she said.
She knew the danger of getting closer, so, hands tied, she watched for her, helplessly.
"It just haunts me right now. There's nothing I could do, I could not get in the water," she said.
Carol described her friend as quiet and kind saying, "she was a widow, and she had many good friends here, and she loved her dog."
Carol says the dog survived the attack, and it haunts her that her friend didn't, too.
"I never woke up this Monday morning and thought that I would be watching someone die being taken under by an alligator," she said.
Authorities from Florida Fish and Wildlife are reminding residents that there are more than 1 million alligators in the state, and they can be found in any body of freshwater.
