After falling into a pond close to her Florida house, an elderly woman struggled to float but was eventually devoured by two alligators.
The woman, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, was reportedly seen Friday evening at around 7.47 p.m. plunging into a pond filled with alligators close to her property at the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club in Englewood.
Two alligators were reportedly observed swimming toward the woman as she struggled to keep afloat.
Then, before she could flee, they seized her.
At the scene, the woman was declared deceased, and an investigation is still ongoing.
In the meantime, trappers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have removed the alligators from the pond.
But her death is just the latest in a recent string of alligator attacks in the southern United States.
Sean Thomas McGuinness, 47, was discovered dead by the lake in John S Taylor Park in Largo, Florida, towards the end of May. He was missing three limbs.
Investigators now think that when he was attacked, he had entered the 53-acre freshwater lake in search of some flying discs. According to the Miami Herald, the park has an 18-hole disc golf course with five holes right next to the lake.
Miami Herald.
‘While the medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death it was apparent that McGuinness suffered injuries related to alligators in the lake,’ Largo Police said last month, adding: ‘Detectives believe this occurred in the lake for a long period of time before he was discovered the morning of May 31.’
Authorities noted that park management had reported ‘McGuinness was known to frequent the park and enter the lake with disregard to the posted “No swimming” signs.
‘A witness also advised detectives that McGuinness was known to sell discs back to people within the park, and McGuinness was found within a few feet of a disc in the water.’
Just a few weeks later, on June 24, an 11-foot alligator snatched and killed a victim from a South Carolina pond.
The unknown victim was near the pond when at the Myrtle Beach Golf and Yacht Club that morning, and police spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov said that by the time authorities arrived on the scene at around 11.45am, ‘units determined that an alligator had taken hold of a neighbor, and retreated into a nearby retention pond.’
He was then removed from the pond, and pronounced dead on the scene.
There have also been at least five attacks over the past year where people survived.
On June 22, for example, Samuel Ray told WRAL he was attacked by an alligator while playing catch near a pond.
‘It was about a foot away from the water,’ he recounted. ‘And then as soon as I put my hand on the ball, I bent over and picked it up – that’s when I saw the gator’s eye.
‘It lunged out, and it as so fast, it was like a lightning strike.’
Ray claimed that the alligator was able to snag hold of his hand, dislocating his shoulder in the process. He struck the alligator until it let him go and fled to safety because he knew he had to act.
After three surgeries, his hand is still intact despite the fact that he ultimately suffered from a disconnected nerve and significant blood loss.
And just a few days prior, according to WCSC, a South Carolina man attempted to save his dog from an alligator attack while also suffering non-life-threatening injuries himself.
The dog also made it through the event and was in good health.
Authorities note unprovoked alligator attacks are rare.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimated there are 1.3 million alligators in the state, the Miami Herald reports, but the state only averages ‘eight unprovoked alligator bites each year.’