Fatal alligator attacks are rare in the United States, usually happening about once a year, but the latest was at least the third in the United States since May. The body of a man who was retrieving Frisbees from a lake in Largo, Florida, was found on May 31. And in June, a man was killed after being dragged into a retention pond by an alligator in Myrtle Beach, SC In the latest attack, the woman tried to stay afloat after falling into the lake at the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club community and was then grabbed by two alligators, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said. Club officials could not immediately be reached on Sunday. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. An official cause of death has not been determined by the Sarasota County Medical Examiner’s Office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent a contract trapper who removed two alligators from the lake and euthanized them, said Adam Brown, a commission spokesman. One alligator was 8 feet 10 inches long and the other was 7 feet 7 inches long. Alligators live throughout Florida and survive in fresh, brackish and saltwater, according to the commission, which estimates the state has more than a million of the large reptiles. Alligators are “more visible and active” in the warmer months when their metabolism increases and they forage, Mr. Brown said. But they rarely bite humans and deaths are rare. The chance of a Florida resident being seriously injured is about one in 3.1 million, the commission said. Last year, nine people in Florida were bitten by alligators in unprovoked attacks, according to commission records. The risk of a fatal alligator attack is low compared to the likelihood of other accidental deaths in the state, according to a 2019 analysis by the University of Florida. “Alligators are opportunistic feeders and will eat animals that are readily available to them,” the committee said. “They prefer to hunt prey that they can easily overpower.”
