Alligator no match

[Elkhunter]

Alligator Savages Woman in 'Tug-Of-War'


MIAMI (Reuters) - A woman fought a 10-minute battle with a 12-foot alligator on a Florida tourist resort island on Wednesday, escaping with arm and leg injuries, local television reported.

Miami's WSVN television said the unidentified woman was ambushed by the alligator while landscaping on Sanibel Island, off Florida's Gulf Coast around 180 miles northwest of Miami.

She fought it for 10 minutes before being escaping.

"(It was) like a tug-of-war almost," a man who helped the woman told the television station.


Wildlife experts say attacks by alligators are rare as they tend to shy away from humans. Saltwater crocodiles are considered far more aggressive.

 

[WH's OutdoorsChick]

Daym, now you see why I moved to Washington rather then Louisiana…

 

[Mojave]

*Update*


Fla. woman attacked by alligator dies
Landscaper died in surgery two days after incident

July 23, 2004SANIBEL, Fla. - A woman mauled by a 12-foot alligator died in surgery Friday, WBBH-TV reported.


Janie Melsek, a landscaper, was attacked behind a home on Wednesday. The 54-year-old woman was dragged into a pond before a neighbor and police officers yanked her from the animal’s jaws.

Part of Melsek’s right arm had to be amputated. She also was severely bitten on her buttocks and thighs. She was undergoing additional surgery Friday morning at Lee Memorial Hospital when she died.

Melsek was trimming a tree when the alligator lunged at her and grabbed her arm. “The lady was in the pond and the alligator had hold of her and just her face was showing,” a neighbor, Jim Anholt, told The News-Press of Fort Myers.

“It was kind of a tug-of-war,” said Anholt, who held Melsek’s neck to keep her head above water as three Sanibel police officers tried to get her out of the pond.

Rescuers struggled for about five minutes to get her away from the alligator. When she came free, medical workers began treating her on the shore.

Police later shot the alligator in the head. It took six men to lift the 12-foot, 3-inch animal to shore.