Authorities from Palm Beach County have confirmed about an alligator attacking incident in the remote area of Florida Everglades. According to the Associated Press, the alligator attacked the inflatable boat of a woman who was later rescued by Fire Rescue officials.
The woman, whose identity was not revealed due to privacy concerns, was exploring the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in an inflatable raft when she was suddenly attacked by an alligator. The alligator violently put its sharp teeth into her boat which eventually lost its air and sank. As the area was totally remote, officers from the rescue team had to send an air boat to search for the woman.
Reports about an alligator attacking the woman came to the authorities at around 12:16 p.m. When they found her, they have attested the fact that the woman had indeed been riding a boat that was torn down into pieces by a violent alligator. Though she did not suffer from any physical injuries, they found her in a state of shock. Rescue officers had immediately removed her from the water area and brought her back to land.
The Florida Everglades has a land area of around 1.5 million acres. It offers a natural habitat for those species that are considered rare and endangered such as the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the manatee. One of its northernmost areas, the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, is found on the west side of Boynton Beach. The refuge has more than 200 square miles of Everglades’ natural habitat.
The place where the woman was rescued has an abundant wildlife and is a popular destination for hikers and kayakers. Not only does it provide a home to alligators but also shelters the Everglade snail kite which is also listed as one of the endangered species.
A record of deadly alligator attacks have already been noted in the US since the 1970s wherein majority of them have taken place in Florida. From an average of five attacks between 1948 and 1986, the number of attacks in Florida has climbed into 14 between 1986 and 2005.
