Quote:
Originally Posted by senior citizen
Southeastern Outdoors - Fatal Alligator Attacks
I had posted on another link several times about how naďve we were when we lived in Satellite Beach Florida for one year, in our mid twenties (1970’s)
Totally unprepared to deal with not only alligators lurking in ponds/lakes or for those dangerous ant hills while walking our 2 year old and 5 year old on the paths.
Obviously we made it out alive; only seeing one HUGE GIANT SNAKE removed from the canal on which our rental home was on. Like “Out of Africa” huge.
Ditto for the late 1980’s while vacationing each April on Sanibel Island, Florida which has the Ding Darling Nature Preserve and does have alligators all over the place.......
....a fact that the home owners and condo owners/ business owners make lightly of, so as not to scare away prospective tourists. Great seashells though.
We even subscribed to the local Sanibel paper prior to visiting......which obviously kept it pretty hush hush.
Of course, when checking in, I’d ask about the alligator “thing”. They’d laugh and make lightly of it.........or outright deny it.
There have been quite a few alligator attacks on Sanibel if you click above hyperlink...........including a lady doing landscaping in the backyard.
Most of her arm had to be removed from a massive infection from the alligator bite..........she ultimately died. It happens.
Obviously, many victims of alligator attacks do survive and live to tell about it. The above hyperlink covers some of the fatalities.
Alligators are hunted and removed for a reason. Even the smaller ones can grow in size........I would imagine. Who knows what is lurking beneath??
Through our own lack of knowledge, our two year old and five year old could have been a tasty morsel for an alligator............as we waded into ponds and lakes, unsuspectingly.....as I've written previously.
I believe newspapers should print the truth and the facts.
I’ve heard that the state of Florida really doesn’t want tourists to know about these things...........so as not to discourage tourism.
Those who do know, shouldn't put their heads in the sand.
God forbid. Hopefully, it never happens, but it's smart to be "aware" of potential danger.......I still say that man is a hero.
I can't believe the negative response to his story that was printed in the Orlando Sentinel. I'm sure they checked it out.
How did he get the wounds on his hand and leg as shown in the photos they took? So many doubting Thomases.
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Senior Citizen thanks, my wife and I had a Condo for years on Sanibel Island, Caribe. Wish we still had it, I could use a vacation. The attack on the woman was 1 week before we were there. In my career (not as an alligator trapper) I was on 3 attacks 2 were fatal. 1 was a 67 year old woman living in Continental Country Club Sumter County, the other was a 10 year old boy at dead river in Leesburg, the last was a 10 month old baby that the mother had put a life jacket on and lowered his feet into lake Deaton, the gator bit is foot and pulled him from his mother’s arms, that mother (98 lbs soaking wet) beat a 8 + foot gator off her child, he suffered some deep lacerations and cut to his foot. To live with or without alligators debate has been around for some time and not going any were soon. Common senses will go a long ways, back by educating one’s self with research, as you did. The internet is loaded with information; the State of Florida web page offers a lot of information. Stay safe