An 85-year-old woman on a routine walk with her dog was killed by an alligator in St. Lucie County, Florida the morning of February 20.
The alligator emerged from the water before grabbing resident Gloria Serge by the foot and dragging her into the water.
According to a statement by the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the alligator weighed around 600-700 pounds and was 10 feet in length. The alligator emerged from the water before knocking the woman down, according to a report filed by the agency.
Neighbor and witness Carol Thomas told local media sources that she had heard something while she was still in bed and saw her neighbor getting carried off.
“I saw her and I saw the gator grab her, and I saw him take her under and I ran out and called 911,” Thomas said. “I asked her to swim toward the paddle boat (nearby) … and she said 'I can't. The gator has me',” Thomas told local media sources.
Thomas and other residents of the Spanish Lakes Community, the 55-and-over community where the victim resided and perished, have pointed out that multiple alligators live on the property and varied in size. Though residents are aware of these reptiles living there, they rarely saw them become aggressive.
BREAKING… @MyFWC on scene at Spanish Lakes Fairways in St. Lucie County capturing gator that may have attacked and killed resident walking their dog. @WPTV pic.twitter.com/Bwxgx2xTDH
— Jon Shainman (@JonShainman) February 20, 2023
What happened to the alligator?
Authorities were able to trap the alligator and retrieve Serge's body, local sources reported.
WPTV of West Palm Beach, Florida reported that the victim certainly put up a fight following an interview with the responding alligator trapper, Robert Lilly.
“It was definitely a fight. [We] snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time. We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up,” Lilly told WPTV.
Fortunately, the dog survived its owner's attack, USA Today reported. Serge had struggled to keep her dog away before falling victim, the source reported according to witnesses in the area.
“It was definitely a fight. [We] snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time. We were able to get a second hook in him and a hard line in him so we could get him up.”
Alligator trapper Robert Lilly
Do alligator attacks happen frequently in the state of Florida?
According to data available on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's website, alligators can be found in all 67 counties of Florida, but they "seldom bite people and fatalities from such occurrences are rare."
According to this same data, since 1948, only 26 out of 442 unprovoked bites in the state have resulted in human casualties.