Woman Killed by Alligator After Community Warned of Animal

47-year-old Shizuka Matsuki was killed in a park by an alligator just two days after an e-mail warning about sightings of the animal was issued.

Matsuki’s arm — identified by a distinctive tattoo — was found in the belly of the 12 and a half foot reptile haunting the waters of Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park. No one witnessed the attack, but both of her dogs were found barking toward the lake. Both animals have been taken to Broward County Animal and Care and Adoption. Only one of them sustained any apparent injury.

“Search teams located the body of Shizuka Matsuki at approximately 9:49 p.m., June 8, 2018 at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park lake in Davie,” according to spokesman Robert Klepper, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “The FWC will be conducting a thorough investigation into this incident,” he said.

Alligators have been a dangerous repeated complaint in the area, and Matsuki’s neighbors had complained of sightings on the 5600 block of Southwest 52nd Street. “She probably thought that Lake was safer alternative, after so many gators have been showing up around here lately,” neighbor Nate Fischer posted on Facebook. “So sad.”

2017’s all-time record for annual gator attacks in Florida was surpassed by July, but the encounters are rarely fatal.