GOLDEN GATE ESTATES — An 18-year-old Golden Gate Estates man, who lost his hand after an alligator attack in the Estates on Sunday night, may be getting back what he lost.
Timothy J. Delano, 18, was swimming in a drainage canal called “The Chrystal” near the intersection of Everglades Boulevard and 42nd Avenue when a 10-foot alligator bit his left hand off, said FWC spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro.
Delano and two companions fled the canal and went to a gas station at Wilson and Golden Gate boulevards to call 911 at approximately 9:30 p.m., said Collier Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Cherie Wilson-Watson.
Delano was airlifted to the Lee Memorial Hospital trauma center in Fort Myers by Collier EMS, officials said.
Ferraro said a trapper was able to find the attacking alligator last night. The gator was “harvested” and the victim’s hand was found in its stomach.
Attempts could be made to reattach the Delano’s hand, Ferraro said.
“Our goal is always to make a person whole again,” she said.
Delano is in good condition, reported Lee Memorial spokeswoman Pat Dolce.
Ferraro said people should recognize that any fresh water body in Florida could have alligators. She said those animals are most active at dawn and dusk.
WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) — What started out as an early morning dog walk turned in to a battle of life or death for William Belch of West Ashley.
Belch said he was walking his grandchildren’s German Sheppard, Dutchess, near a community pond in the Hamilton Grove subdivision around 7 a.m. Sunday. Suddenly, according to Belch, a sharp movement in the water caught the attention of Dutchess who broke free from his grasp and headed directly toward the water.
“It was so quick!” recalled Belch. “Like a snake striking out!”
Within seconds, what Belch described as an eight foot alligator had Dutchess in its jaws, dragging the 80-pound dog into the water.
“I knew it was my grandchildren’s dog and that I would have no way of explaining to them that [the dog] had been killed by a gator, so I just reacted on instinct.”
Which meant Belch was going to get in the water. He spent the next 30 seconds in a three-way tug of war; one hand pulling Dutchess, the other thrashing the alligator on the nose.
After a trip to a local veterinarian Dutchess will make a full recovery. The dog has some scarring on her legs and skull. While animal safety is a top concern, admits Belch, it’s not his only worry.
“The neighborhood is lined with houses, all filled with small children,” Belch said. “Something is going to happen. Something tragic. I just know it.”
Belch’s daughter, Joanna Robbs, said she has called her homeowners association as well as the Department of Natural Resources about alligator problems in the past.
“Usually they tell us [the alligators] are more afraid of humans and pets than anything else,” Robbs said. “Clearly, this isn’t the case.”
Robbs and Belch both say that, in their observation, the alligators that do inhabit the pond make their way from a heavily wooded swamp area that surrounds much of Hamilton Grove. Robbs also said that the Department of Natural Resources has told her that due to the close proximity of the alligators natural habitat to the neighborhood, it is hard to do anything drastic about the situation.
“They expect us to live side by side, but that just isn’t safe,” Robbs said. “An alligator can grab an 80-pound dog, it can grab a 50-pound child.”
Both Belch and Robbs agree killing the alligators is not the best method of control, however.
“Fences, barricades, something,” Belch said. “Something has to be done before it is too late.”
Follow up calls to the Department of Natural Resources and the local homeowners association will be made when offices resume business on Monday Robbs said.
LAKELAND, Fla. – Tiger is taking it easy, spending the day in bed lying down. His owner Vivian Rovelo says this pit bull doesn't even have the energy to go outside.
“He didn't eat yesterday,” she said.
Vivian says normally the dog is very active.
“Yes. Running, playing, you can't imagine. He's a very excited dog.”
Tiger needs his rest a day after surviving an alligator attack at Lake Hunter just south of downtown Lakeland.
The dog was going for a walk around the lake, as he often does with Vivan's husband Oscar. With soaring temperatures, Tiger needed a water break.
“He was going to the lake, because it was hot. And the alligator attacked. The alligator wanted to take him,” said Rovelo.
Tiger fought back and got out of the alligator's grip. Then Vivian's husband pulled him to safety with the leash.
“He said, oh! Tiger, Tiger! And he pulled him out and the alligator was gone,” she said.
There are plenty battle scars, scrapes and scratches all over Tiger's body. But it appears he may have hurt the gator too. One of Tiger's teeth is cut in half.
And while there are alligator warning signs around the lake, Vivian says more are needed. “Let me tell you, you have to be careful in the lakes, everybody. Everybody walks over there, with dogs, with kids.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife officials do advise pets to swim, exercise, or drink near places alligators call home.
Vivan hopes Tiger is up and around and back to his old self soon. In the meantime, she's giving him love, and the run of a big comfy bed.
MIAMI — Florida had seen just 17 confirmed fatal alligator attacks in the previous 58 years. In less a week, there appears to have been three.
The bodies of two women were found Sunday some 130 miles apart.
Annemarie Campbell, 23, of Paris, Tenn., was attacked while snorkeling in a secluded recreation area near Lake George, said state wildlife spokeswoman Kat Kelley. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.
“The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth,” said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore.
By poking the alligator's eyes and trying to open its jaws, the men were able to free Campbell's body, but she was dead when they found her, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.
Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury.
“You just don't think of your daughter dying from an alligator,” Campbell's mother, Dawn Marie Yankeelov, told the newspaper.
Authorities estimate the animal was 7 to 9 feet long.
In Pinellas County, the body of another woman apparently killed by an alligator was found in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg, authorities said.
Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.
The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which “did play some part in the victim's death,” according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.
“We don't know the condition she was in when this happened,” state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse said.
It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.
Cooper's family had not heard from her for about three months and she had a history of drug abuse, her sister, Dannette Goodrich, told The Orlando Sentinel.
Gary Goodrich, Cooper's brother-in-law, told the newspaper that officials said her purse was found near the water and drugs may have played a factor.
Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.
On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.
On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.
Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.
What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.
“As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more,” Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. “They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks.”
Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.
Not be confused with Entophobia, the fear of ancient, walking talking tree people, entomophobia is the fear that insects will crawl into your ears, eyes, nose and mouth to eventually lay eggs on your brain. Contestants on Fear Factor have bunjee jumped off helicopters, but ask them to lie in a coffin filled with bugs and their courage crumbles. So why is it that we, the dominating species on the planet, capable of jumping out of airplanes, wrestling alligators, and rushing into burning buildings to rescue babies, are so utterly terrified of creatures hundreds of times smaller than us? The following are some of the most horrifying, agony-inducing, flesh-melting, downright dangerous insects known to man. 10 damned good reasons to be afraid…very afraid!
Brazilian Wandering Spider
This little beauty is not only the world’s most venomous spider, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, but is also believed to be responsible for the most human deaths. These deadly arachnids got their name because, unlike most spiders, they don’t hang out in a web or a lair at night, but wander the jungle floor looking for prey—though these pests are increasingly found in cities. During the day Wandering Spiders hide in termite mounds, under logs or sometimes in banana plants.
The venom these spiders produce is similar to the neurotoxin found in Black Widow Spiders, causing pain, cold sweats and an irregular heart beat. It’s believed that between the year 1970 and 1980 Brazilian Wandering Spiders were responsible for hospitalizing about 7,000 people in southern Brazil.
If it doesn’t manage to kill you, however, there are some pretty embarrassing side effects that come with this spider bite.
Africanized Honey Bee (a.k.a. Killer Bees)
The world is full of dangerous things that can kill us, but we only have ourselves to blame for this one folks. Back in the day settlers in North and South America wanted a hardy bee that produced a lot of honey. Well, European bees were bigger and produced more honey, but they were kind of frail. African bees, though tough, were much smaller.
So to get the best of both worlds, they bred these two bees together. This produced a race of large, very aggressive honey bees with a habit of absconding (or abandoning their hives to start new ones elsewhere). These bees are hyper-defensive and attack relentlessly in giant swarms when threatened.
If an Africanized honey bee stings you they not only release their venom, but they release a banana-scented pheromone which signals the other bees to attack. You can withstand approximately 7 stings for every pound you weigh before your life is in serious danger. These bees have been known to swarm and attack as far as ¼ mile from their hive, and can sting up to 500 times in 30 seconds. You do the math.
These bees used to dwell mostly in South America, but have been migrating further and further north in recent years.
Giant Japanese Hornet (a.k.a Asian Hornet)
No, that picture isn’t Photoshopped. The bug is really that big. When these puppies aren’t picking fights with entire bee hives or eating honey bee larva, they can be found stinging annoying humans in the Tokyo region with their 6mm stingers (that’s about a quarter inch).
Not only are these bugs frighteningly big, but they’re also frighteningly dangerous. Giant hornet venom is more potent than that of its smaller, puny relatives; it’s a mixture of acetylcholine—which causes a lot of pain—and an enzyme that’s capable of dissolving human flesh. People who have experienced being bitten by these bugs say it feels like a hot nail being driven through your flesh. And once you’ve pissed one of these guys off it will chase you for over three miles. Each year in Japan, Giant Hornets kill more people than all other venomous and non-venomous animals combined.
Siafu Ants
Found mostly in central and east Africa, these ants aren’t so tough on their own. Problem is, you’re not very likely to find one of these little guys by themselves. Siafu Ants live in giant colonies of about 20 million individuals.
When food gets low the ants set out in search of food in columns that can consist of as many as 50 million ants. And that’s when you don’t want to mess with them. The columns defend themselves viciously, and have a military structure complete with sentries that set up a perimeter corridor to protect the smaller members of the colony. You’re not in too much trouble as long as you can run away from a column, but if you’re sick or debilitated or just generally stuck in one place these ants can kill you and consume your entire body. Most people die of asphyxiation rather than the painful venomous bite. These ants have such powerful jaws that in East Africa, people used them to perform emergency sutures.
Bullet Ant
So maybe swarms of tiny ants don’t scare you. How about this giant screaming mofo? That’s right, screaming. Bullet Ants hail from the low land rainforests of Nicaragua and Paraguay. Each ant is about an inch long and lives in a tree colony. When a predator approaches the colony some of these bad boys drop down onto it, letting out a shriek before they do.
While not the deadliest insect, the Bullet Ant’s sting is said to be the most painful in the world, according to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. The insect’s sting causes waves of burning, throbbing, mind-blowing, pain that doesn’t stop for 24 hours. It hurts so much it feels like you’ve been shot with a bullet (Get it? Bullet Ant?)
Some South American societies use the Bullet Ant to test the manhood of young boys, making them endure 20 stings without crying out before they can be considered men. Some white people think that sounds cool and decide to do it just for kicks.
African Assassin Bug
This brightly-coloured bug is said to have venom 10 times more potent than a cobra, which it can either spit at or inject into its prey. One bug won’t kill a human, but get bit by enough and you’ll be in trouble.
The Assassin Bug’s venom, rather than paralyzing its prey, will liquefy their insides. It uses its proboscis to suck the liquid insides from its prey or to bite unsuspecting human beings. The Assassin hunts by covering itself with the dead bodies of past meals. When an unsuspecting insect wanders by and thinks one of the empty bug husks looks tasty, the Assassin Bug dumps the decoys and pounces.
Some brave—or crazy—humans have taken to keeping these bugs as pets because they can control most pest problems very efficiently. Other people keep them as pets so they can videotape them hunting, set it to whimsical music and post it all on YouTube.
Kissing bugs
These bugs aren’t really deadly because of their venom or because they’re particularly fearsome. Kissing bugs are dangerous because they infect human beings with Chaga’s disease. These insects don’t die after biting so it’s possible for them to bite multiple humans and pass the Chaga’s parasite along. The bugs hide inside houses and drops down onto people while they’re sleeping, biting the soft tissue of the lips and eyes. Chaga’s disease, however, is actually passed to a new host through the bug’s feces that enter the human body through the wounds it inflicts.
As of 2008, 16 to 18 million people were infected with the disease, with 20,000 dying of the affliction yearly. Chaga’s causes sever heart damage. Heart transplants for victims are ineffective because the parasite just ruins the new heart as well.
Mosquito
Okay, so we’ve all seen Mosquitoes before and they’re not particularly terrifying. But their kill rate certainly should scare you. These blood suckers kill more people than all of the flying menaces and deadly spiders combined. Mosquitoes pass along diseases like yellow fever, denegue fever, Chikungunya, West Nile virus and the ever popular malaria. It’s estimated that in Africa alone mosquitos are responsible for infecting 700 million people with disease, killing 2 million in their infectious wake.
It seems that as the mating season of the Alligators is nearing, the reptiles are busy finding a mate.
On Monday a 7-feet long alligator was found in a middle School in the coastal city of Tampa. The alligator was found roaming in the premise of the school building and reports claim that the authorities informed the Tampa police department at around 7 p.m.
The students of the school who had started arriving by then were kept away from the alligators. Before the police arrived to take hold of the situation and trap the alligator, the staff members of the school were able to coax the alligator and trap him inside the boy’s bathroom. The Police arrived with trappers from the Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the alligator.
Marc Pellicano, a sixth-grade science teacher of the school has revealed to media sources that he noticed the giant alligator just after getting out of his car in the parking area of the school on Monday morning.
He said that he immediately got to action to see to it that the alligator did not attack anybody or nobody got close enough to the alligator. The alligator then according to another teacher entered the school building and stopped in front of the cafeteria.
From there on it was coaxed by the staff members into the toilet and locked from outside until the trappers and the police arrived.
David Rocco, one of the school teachers said that the alligator was not aggressive and that the only time it got a bit aggressive was when the noose was put around it.
Gary Morse of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Service speculated that the alligator might have entered the school on Friday before the gates were shut.
Doug McCard, 35, said he was out for an early-morning swim on Sunday to train for a triathlon when the attack occurred.
He described his ordeal at Lake Mary Jane in Moss Park that sent him to the emergency room in detail.
“I knew I was in really shallow water, maybe waist deep, so I tried to spin myself and stand up and started swinging. Got a pretty good elbow to his head and he released me,” McCard said.
McCard said he’s been swimming in Lake Mary Jane since he’s been a boy, so the attack came as a shock.
Park personnel will continue to monitor the area for alligators.
Moncks Corner, SC – According to authorities, a woman that was walking a trail in Moncks Corner was bitten by an alligator Monday afternoon.
Officials say the attack happened at Cypress Gardens when the woman was walking a trail with her husband. Investigators say a 5 to 6-foot alligator bit the woman’s hand and leg.
Department of Natural Resources officials are searching for the gator but so far there haven’t been any sightings. Guests at Cypress Gardens are warned about the possibility of seeing animals and are told to keep their distance, but park officials say this time of year it is not unusual to see a dangeous gator.
Director of Cypress Gardens Dwight Williams says,”One of the attractions of Cypress Gardens is the possibility of seeing wild alligators. We don’t know how many are in the swamp. On a day like today, it is typical to see alligators sunning themselves beside the swamp as spring comes.”
Berkeley County took over control of Cypress Gardens in 1996 and officials say there have not been any alligator attacks here since that time. The victim has been taken to MUSC.
Authorities say the woman was able to walk out of the park on her own. Officials don’t believe her injuries to be life threatening.
Officials believe they have found an alligator that escaped from a wildlife officer who brought the animal to his daughter’s school for show and tell.
Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for the Florida wildlife commission, says officials think the 5-foot alligator is in a Panhandle pond. Authorities weren’t able to capture the gator Friday.
Searchers scoured a wooded area surrounding the school Friday afternoon after the alligator jumped out of the man’s vehicle with its mouth taped shut.
Kirkland says alligators have “amazing” jumping ability and that allowed it to escape.
Bob Schenck waded through the leech-filled swamp, creeping closer to the alligator.
“It was waiting, aggressive and ready to attack,” Schenck said today. When the moment was right, he pounced, maneuvering around the 5-foot reptile’s open jaws as he subdued it on Sunday.
Schenck with alligator
Schenk wasn’t in Africa, or even Florida. He was tangling with the stray 50-pound reptile in a dirty drainage ditch behind a Fall River mall.The gator was spotted several times Sunday near Route 24 in Fall River, according to authorities. Animal control officers and Schenck, who owns a pet store in the city, responded about 4:30 p.m. after a police officer reported a sighting, said Cynthia Berard, Fall River’s animal control supervisor.
