Woman Dies After Alligator Attack In Golf Course Pond
The unnamed victim was attacked by two large alligators at Florida's Boca Royale Golf and Country Club
An 80-year-old woman has been killed after she was attacked by two alligators after falling into a pond at a US golf course.
The incident happened at the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club near the victim’s home in Englewood, Florida, on Friday night. The woman, who has not been named, was pronounced dead at the scene. A statement from the local sheriff’s office said: “Two alligators were observed near the victim and ultimately grabbed her while in the water."
Although an official cause of death has not yet been confirmed, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) sent a specialised trapper to the scene of the incident, where two alligators – one nine-feet long and the other nearly eight-feet long - were removed from the pond and euthanised.
The death is the third in the US as a result of alligator attacks this year, following the discovery of a man’s body in a lake in Largo, Florida in May and another male killed after being dragged into a pond in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last month.
Despite the latest incident, the FWC states that fatal alligator attacks are rare in Florida. The organisation says there are an average of eight unprovoked alligator attacks per year requiring medical attention. Between 1948 and 2021, Florida saw 442 unprovoked alligator attacks, resulting in 26 deaths.
The FWC estimates there are around 1.3 million of the reptiles in Florida and that they can be found in almost all fresh and brackish water bodies, and occasionally salt water. It also points out that alligators become more active as temperatures rise and stresses that people should not swim in rivers and lakes at either dawn or dusk.
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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.
He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.
Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.
Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.
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