ENGLEWOOD FLORIDA
Yesterday afternoon a elderly woman was attacked while gardening in the back of Fiddlers green iniums . The woman was digging in the garden when a 8 foot Gator charged out of the pond and grabed her by the left arm . The Gator then started pulling her into the pond . Another resident grabed her by the leg and a tug of war ensued . The Gator then rolled severing her arm below the shoulder . She was flown to Tampa for medical treatment . The Charlott County Sherifs dept fired at the gator while it was eating the severed arm . They were unsucessfull . The Gator was traped and cut open , the arm was then flown to Tampa approximatly 4 hours later .
A 8 foot Gator does not appear overly large and imposing . They have not yet put on the weight to have an imposing look . It has been stated that a 6 foot Gator is large enough to kill an human . So those of you who plan to visit the sunny State of Forida . Be mindeful of the Gators.

It's very strange of late to hear on some of the so-called informative wildlife type shows like "Croc Files" on saturday morning with Steve "Croc-Hunter" Irwin that alligators never hunt humans. They leave the impression that only the more aggressive croc.....hunts humans. And yet there are so many recorded incidences of those good ole docile gators having taken humans.

In the "good old days" when we used to have a vacation home on Hilton Head Island, there'd be a story about once a year or so about a gator attack. Course, probably a lot more were kept hush-hush, so the tourists weren't scared away
During the mating season, especially, the males become extremely aggressive. At other times, anything they see is considered food.

The locals knew you didn't go anywhere near a lagoon or pond, and, for God's sake, stay away from any that you see. Seems like common sense, but, we were playing golf one day with a couple from Texas at a course that was known to have lots of gators on it. The lady kept hoping to see one, so hubby could take a picture of her standing beside it, our protestations to the contrary nothwithstanding. Lo and behold, we spotted a small one (a lot of the immature ones are striped, kind of like a zebra) and, when she put her leg out of the cart, after they stopped near it for the photo op, the thing was into the water (fortunately) like a streak. You can't believe how fast they can move until you've seen it. For the rest of the round, you talk about one NERVOUS lady - her head was on a swivel any time we were within sight of water.

R-WEST

For all of you tourists & folks from up north who are thinking of visiting or moving down here to Florida, BEWARE. The gators are killing people & animals by the hundreds. Keep your children, pets and senior citizens safe & stay home!

thmpr

I'm staying up north where we don't have any gators. I do have some cats I would like to send down there !!!

Florida is not the only place with gators. N.C. has them too. I doubt that fact will keep people from moving down here any more than it has kept people from moving to Florida. N.C. is reputed to be the worst state for poisonous snake bites. Perhaps that will thin out the migrants. Probably not. Nothing seems to work. Oh,well, come on down. Please pick us up some good bagels on the way down.