A man lost a chunk of his leg when he was bitten by an alligator outside a Florida motel Tuesday morning after reportedly mistaking the reptile for a dog, authorities said.
The alligator attacked the man around 12.30am at the Warm Mineral Springs Motel in North Port after the man approached the animal while walking alone on a dark path.
‘He stated the figure appeared to look like a dog with a long leach, which is why he wasn’t hesitant to move out of the way,’ a spokesperson for the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said.
Then, the alligator bit his right leg, tearing off a large chunk of his muscle tissue, according to the sheriff’s office.
An officer who was in the area responding to a separate call was able to get the man help. Paramedics brought him to an area hospital to be treated for his injuries, but his current condition has not been disclosed.
Another officer was able to capture the animal before an expert trapper arrived at the scene to remove the alligator from the area.
Last week, a Florida man who h.
The 47-year-old man was found dead in the water at a disc golf course in Largo, Florida, where ‘danger’ signs warned people of alligators in the water.
Authorities are not looking to see if an alligator resides in the lake in order to determine if it was involved in the death. If confirmed, it will be the first fatal alligator attack in the state since 2019.
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