Scott Hollingsworth, a resident of Florida, was attacked by an alligator right after he stepped out of his house Saturday night.
The Daytona Beach resident said that he heard a noise outside his home around 9:42 p.m., and when he stepped outside, “something grabbed me on the leg, started shaking violently.”
Since he didn’t turn on the light, he didn’t get a good look at his “assailant” but told the police that he thought it was a dog.
“I stepped back into the house and closed the door,” Hollingsworth said.
When he looked down, he saw that he had a huge cut on the side of his leg.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived on the scene and located the 9-foot alligator still lurking near Hollingsworth’s front door, Fox News reported.
The reptile was euthanized by the agency trapper.
Although he was planning to attend this week’s Bike Week, because he needed surgery for his wound, he believed he probably won’t be biking anytime soon.
A few weeks before Hollingsworth’s attack, Gloria Serge, 85, was killed by a 10-foot alligator while walking her dog in Fort Pierce, about two hours south of Daytona Beach.
Serge was trying to protect her small dog from the massive 700-pound gator when it dragged her into the lake outside her retirement community to her death. Her dog survived the shocking attack.
Alligator attacks in Florida
Alligator attacks are not unusual in Florida, although deaths from them are. According to a November 2021 report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC):
- In 2021, there were seven major and three minor alligator bites.
- In 2020, there were eight major and four minor gator bites here.
- In 2019, there was one fatality in Florida, five major and five minor alligator bites.
- In 2018, there was one fatality here, nine major alligator bites, and one minor bite on people.
Most of the attacks are a result of gators being conditioned to humans because people have fed them. While feeding the predator may seem like a sign of goodwill, however, it’s an act that people should refrain from doing.
Feeding alligators makes them think that humans are a source of food. With that in mind, alligators no longer fear people but will become aggressive with them in search of nourishment. If a person cannot deliver food to an alligator, the person becomes the food themselves.
NOTE: Photo of alligator is a from Pexels