A young swimmer is lucky to be alive after being attacked by an alligator on Labor Day while taking a dip in a restricted nature preserve near Florida’s central east coast.
The unidentified minor was rushed to the hospital after being rescued along with “several other juveniles” who became isolated on a sand bar in the Weeki Wachee Preserve about 50 miles north of Tampa, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office which responded along with fire and other rescue first responders.
The victim, who has not been identified, suffered puncture wounds to the arm and leg after being bitten by an alligator estimated to be between 9 and 12 feet long, according to the sheriff’s office, Florida news outlets reported.
The Weeki Wachee Preserve spans over 11,200 acres. No swimming is allowed in any of the lakes in the preserve, according to the Water Management District’s website.
Hernando Fire and Rescue deployed an airboat in the midafternoon Monday to retrieve the victim and the other juveniles stranded on the sandbar after they were unable to make it back to the mainland, according to reports.
Authorities dispatched a licensed Florida wildlife trapper to the preserve to place traps for the offending alligator, apparently to have it examined by wildlife authorities.
Why and how the group of juveniles decided to start swimming in an area posted as off-limits due to alligators and other hazards has yet to be explained.
Christopher Gillette, owner of Bellowing Acres Animal Sanctuary in Interlachen, FL, told Fox News Digital that when it comes to Florida people must be mindful to swim only in designated areas.
The reason is obvious, he said — the state is home to about 1.3 million alligators.
The victim’s injuries were reported to be non-life threatening.
However, Gillette told the cable news outlet, “That’s really kind of the root of the issue here: You’re swimming in the no-swimming zone. We’re very fortunate that the kid did survive.”
He continued, “If you’re going to go swimming, only go swimming in designated swimming zones where we know there are not alligators.”
Even being at the water’s edge in alligator country can pose a serious risk, Gillette added.
“The three biggest problems that we run into [are] people swimming in [an] alligator habitat, people feeding the alligators, or [people] having kids and pets near the water’s edge,” he said.
Alligators typically like smaller prey than humans, but a person’s size can be deceiving from the reptile’s perspective.
An alligator hunts with its eye only about an inch above the surface. From that point of view, only a swimmer’s head and arms appear moving through the water.
“You look like small prey,” Gillette said.
Gillette then stated the obvious.
“My advice is don’t end up there in the first place,” he said. “It’s incredibly dangerous even for someone who knows what they’re doing.”
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.