Fort Myers (Florida) Jul 10: An alligator at least 10 feet (3 meters) long lunged at a teenager swimming in a river and bit off the boy's right arm below the elbow, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday.
Kaleb Langdale, 17, survived the encounter in the Caloosahatchee River in Florida.
Langdale described the moment the attack happened, thinking his friends were playing a trick on him.
“I got maybe 30 yards from the bank and my friend Abraham yelled, “Gator!' and I was like, ‘Why are you gonna mess with me like that?' And I looked and there's a ‘gator coming and he's like on a plane moving as fast as he could,” he said.
Langdale explained how he tried to fight off the attack but the alligator was to bite his arm off in the struggle.
“I tried to hold him so he couldn't bite me, but he done a death roll and knocked me off. So I took my foot and I kicked, trying to gain speed to go to the bank and when I was swimming, throwing my arms back and forth, this one, he got it,” he explained.
Wildlife officers who caught and killed the alligator retrieved the arm, but doctors were unable to reattach it.
Matthew Baker, a friend who witnessed the attack, said Langdale had been around alligators all his life.
“He is smart enough he knows if he offers him his arm, he won't take his torso, he was smart he took the risk,” Baker said.
The teen was in good condition on Tuesday at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers.
The Glades County area near Lake Okeechobee where Langdale was swimming is known to have several large alligators in it.
Alligators are more active this time of year because it's their mating season, which makes them more aggressive and inquisitive as they're looking for food and for mates.
Captain Jeff Ardelean, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission stressed that “any type of commotion in the water is potential food in their eyes.”
It's still relatively rare for wild alligators to bite humans.
“Every time we went to the river you'd see one off in the distance and we'd just keep an eye on it. But for some strange reason, this one wanted to charge. I don't know why,” said Langdale.
Wildlife officials are investigating what caused the alligator to bite Langdale.
His mother said although she was shocked, she'd “almost expected it at some point.”
“Because he's always getting hurt, because he's always going full force,” Felinda
Langdale explained when asked why.
Since 1948, 224 people have suffered serious alligator bites, including 22 fatal bites, according to conservation commission data from June 2011.
