A Fort Pierce woman aged 85 was walking her dog next to a pond when she was attacked by an alligator on Monday.
Witnesses called 911 to report that the 10-foot-long alligator grabbed Gloria Serge after she was bitten by her dog. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stated in a statement.
Ms. Serge died as The encounter resulted in the commission’s statement. Unharmed, the dog survived. The commission stated that the alligator was killed by a trapper.
Alligators do not cause serious injuries. FloridaAccording to the commission, this was only the third fatal encounter of the year.
Authorities said that an 80 year-old woman died in July 2022 after falling into a lake near her Englewood home. A 47-year-old man was found dead in May 2022 after he had taken Frisbees out of Largo’s lake. It was thought that he had been the first to be killed by an alligator. Florida Since 2019.
Carol Thomas (a neighbor) told the story in this episode. CBS12.com She had seen the alligator pull Ms. Serge into Spanish Lakes Fairways’ retention pond after she heard a noise.
Ms. Serge was able to come up to Ms. Thomas for air and she shouted at her swim to a paddleboat that had been flipped over.
“She said, ‘I can’t. The gator has me!’” The station was informed by Ms. Thomas.
Ms. Thomas stated that she took a pole for hanging plants outside and wanted to push the alligator off of Ms. Serge’s head. The pond was not visible to Ms. Serge.
“There’s nothing you can do,” CBS12.com – Ms. Thomas “Just kind of haunted by that, you know. I don’t know what else I could’ve done.”
Carol Volpini (a Spanish Lakes resident) said Tuesday in an interview that Ms. Serge was alive and well. “very sweet person” Charlie was Charlie’s husband and she enjoyed playing bocce together before his death many years ago.
“It’s devastating,” Ms. Volpini stated. “She was a wonderful person, and we loved her dearly.”
Ms. Volpini’s husband, Frank Volpini, said that Ms. Serge was also active in the community’s New Jersey club, for former residents of the state.
“They were both very active here,” Mr. Volpini spoke about Charlie and Gloria Serge. “Everybody knows Charlie. Everybody knows Gloria. They help people — just super nice people. It’s a super sad situation.”
Volpini stated that he saw occasionally “small alligators” In the Spanish Lakes Fairways pipes and ponds but not like the 10-foot alligator shown on the local news as After its encounter with Ms. Serge, it was forced to be trapped in a truck and wrestled into the back.
“It’s a monster,” He said.
Florida There are an estimated 1.3 Million alligators in the area. They are all known as “opportunistic feeders” According to the commission, prey that is easy to overpower tends towards them.
Between 1948 and 2021, 442 were recorded by the state. “unprovoked bite incidents” 26 alligators were involved in the fatality of this incident the commission said.
In the past 10 years, Florida The average number of unprovoked bites each year is eight, which are severe enough to warrant professional medical attention.
Based on the probabilities of having a Florida Only 1 out of 3.1 Million residents are seriously hurt by alligators.
