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A man in Leesburg, Florida lost his hand during an attack by a 9-foot alligator and rescue workers were notified by a panicked homeowner who called 911 to say an alligator was attacking a man in her backyard. She then told the 911 dispatcher the man had lost his hand in the attack.
Ron Priest who lives in Pennbrooke Fairways spoke with Kelsie Cairns of FOX 35. He and his wife were at home when the alligator attack occurred and Ron says he witnessed the entire incident while his wife called 911.
Priest explained how it was the feared alligator ‘death roll’ that most likely led to the man losing his hand. Saying “While the guy was on the ground, the gator got the guy in the hand, and the two rolled.”
While this was happening, Ron’s wife called 911 and Lake County Fire Rescue workers. The call, which was reported on by FOX 35, is a bit disturbing if you try and put yourselves in the shoes of anyone at the incident:
Dispatcher: Is this regarding a gator attack?”
Caller: “Yes, he took his hand off.”
Dispatcher: “Oh no, okay.”
Caller: “Hand is gone!”
Another homeowner called Lake County Fire Rescue workers to say there was an alligator attacking a man in their backyard and people had stopped on golf carts, presumably to watch or help when they could.
According to Ron Priest, the 9-foot alligator that bit the man’s hand off was initially after a fish. The man was there fishing on the golf course, an activity that is unfortunately outlawed in many golf course communities here in Florida because the bass fishing on golf courses is top notch.
Priest said “The gator was after [the] fish, and what we don’t know is if the guy was trying to unhook the fish.”
Florida Man Lost His Hand During Alligator Attack, But Will He Get The Hand Back?
What happens next is not for the faint of heart. Members from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had to put the alligator down as it had attacked a human.
Shortly after the attack, a helicopter airlifted the man who was attacked to a hospital in Orlando. Once FWC put the alligator down, the hand was still there. The detached human hand. Priest told FOX 35 that it’s his understanding that FWC cannot dispose of human parts so, in hopes of reuniting the man with his hand, FWC employees drove the severed hand to the hospital in Orlando where the man was taken after the alligator attack.
From there, it’s unclear if the hand was able to be reattached. Severed hands (and fingers) can be reattached through a surgery process called replantation. The first human thumb was successfully reattached back in 1968 and since then thousands of severed fingers and hands have been reattached.
However, in order for the replantation process to be able to occur the hand must have been kept safe and it must not be completely destroyed. And it is unclear what the state of the man’s missing hand was after this brutal alligator attack in Leesburg.
Are gator attacks in Florida?
Not to be lost in the grizzly details of this attack, but Sunday was an eventful day in Florida for alligator attacks. There was a man in the Everglades National Park who was airlifted to a nearby trauma unit after being attacked and a few hours north this individual lost his hand after being attacked by a 9-foot alligator while fishing on a golf course in the Pennbrooke Fairways neighborhood. Two alligator attacks in one day!
However, attacks are not common.
The odds of an alligator attack occurring are incredible rare, about 1-in-3.2 million. Of those, only 4% of attacks are fatal. So, the chances of surviving an alligator attack are high but obviously not an experience anyone wants to go through. As for the rarity of these attacks, there have been 451 here in Florida since 1948 according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Of those, 30 have been fatal.
Frankly, it’s a testament to how docile alligators are and how intelligent the species is that there aren’t more attacks in Florida. There are an estimated 1.3 million alligators here in Florida. They’re everywhere. The old adage goes that if there’s a body of water in Florida then there’s an alligator in it (freshwater, of course).
The FWC offers guidance to all my fellow Floridians on how to peacefully coexist with alligators and crocodiles.