Alligatorangriff in Florida

[Ralf Sommerlad]

Heute im www.

Alligator tötet Joggerin in Florida
Freitag 12. Mai 2006, 13:11 Uhr

Miami (AFP) - Ein Alligator hat in Florida eine Joggerin angegriffen und getötet: Bauarbeiter fanden die im Wasser treibende Leiche der 28-Jährigen in einem Kanal in der Kleinstadt Sunrise. Offensichtlich hatte ein Alligator die Frau attackiert, als sie ihre abendliche Jogging-Runde drehte, wie örtliche Medien berichteten. Zeugen beobachteten, wie das Tier sie ins Wasser zog. Die Behörden suchten nach einem rund drei Meter langen Alligator, der zuvor in der Region gesichtet worden war.

In dem US-Bundesstaat leben schätzungsweise eine Million Alligatoren. Dennoch wurden seit 1948 nur 25 tödliche Angriffe auf Menschen gemeldet. Durch mangelnde Regenfälle in der Region gehen die Feuchtgebiete zurück und die Tiere tauchen zunehmend in Wohngebieten auf.

Erst Anfang der Woche war eine 74-Jährige in Fort Myers im Südwesten von Florida von einem Alligator ins Bein gebissen worden. Die rüstige Frau konnte das Tier jedoch abwehren, indem sie ihm mit dem Gartenschlauch auf das Maul schlug.

[Ralf Sommerlad]

Das hört sich schon etwas anders an:

SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 11 May 06 Woman killed by alligator after being dragged into Sunrise canal (Akilah Johnson)
Construction workers found the dismembered body of a Davie woman on Wednesday who was attacked by an alligator after she went out for a nightly jog, authorities say.
The body of Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, was found floating in a canal between Markham County Park and State Road 84 in Sunrise, police Lt. Robert Voss said.
Police said Jimenez was still wearing her Nike sneakers, jogging sports bra and biking shorts.
"We have witnesses and we have physical evidence to support our theory that the young lady was dragged into the water and attacked," said Officer Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. "But, that's a theory. We may never know. The possibility also exists that she might have fallen in."
Unidentified witnesses told investigators that a woman matching Jimenez's description was seen dangling her feet over the water's edge. But Pino said no one actually saw the attack.
Whether Jimenez drowned or died from her injuries won't be determined until an autopsy is performed today.
Being killed by an alligator is extremely rare. There have only been 25 fatal alligator attacks in Florida since 1948 and none in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to the Wildlife Commission.
The most recent incident occurred in Port Charlotte when a 12-foot alligator attacked a 41-year-old man as he swam in a canal in July. Nearly a year before that, a 20-year-old woman was killed in Lee County while swimming in a retention pond. In 2004, a woman was attacked while on Sanibel Island.
In 1993, an alligator grabbed the head of Bradley Weidenhamer, 10, of Lantana, and dragged him into the Loxahatchee River. Bradley died despite efforts by his father and others to free him from the alligator's jaws in a remote site along the river in Martin County.
Experts say alligator attacks haven't become more common but man's interaction with the reptile has. As more land is developed to keep pace with Florida's housing boom, more wildlife habits are lost and alligators are more likely to wander into residential and commercial areas.
The lack of rain is also bringing more alligators out of the wild.
"The Everglades is very, very dry, so that means a lot of gators that were in the marshes are now in canals," said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife scientist. "So probably everywhere you go in the western part of Broward County, there are more alligators in canals than there were a month ago.
Mazzotti called the increase dramatic and said there could be as many as 10 times more alligators swimming in canals.
Mazzotti said people still are more likely to be hit by lightning than being attacked by an alligator. "Every day that you get in your car and drive to work, you are in way more danger than you are of being attacked by an alligator," he said.
Most attacks occur because the reptiles are looking for food, wildlife officials said. The creatures are naturally afraid of humans, but they lose that fear if people feed them, officials said.
"We don't know if this young lady was actually feeding the gator or not," Pino said. "But, we do know that once the alligator starts to lose its natural fear of humans it starts to perceive the human as a food source."
That is why tossing breadcrumbs or other food scraps at the reptiles is a crime, officials said.
Jimenez set out for her evening jog about 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sunrise police said. Living in the 12800 block of State Road 84, she ran along a bicycle path parallel to the highway.
Her family hadn't heard from her since and were filing a missing person's report Wednesday when they saw reports of a woman pulled from a canal 20 blocks from their home on the nightly news, Voss said.
Angie Suarez came to the scene and identified her sister's body from photos, he said.
Wildlife officers and animal trappers spent hours trying to catch the alligator, which they think could be as long as 10 feet, based on previous sightings of an alligator in the area. Once captured, the reptile will be removed, destroyed and the contents of its stomach examined, Pino said.
The attack wasn't enough to frighten people out of the waters of the North New River Canal, about a half-mile west of the site. Even when wildlife officers pulled up to a boat ramp, people wouldn't stop using their Super Jet Wave Runners.
"I'm not afraid," said Daniel Marino Jr., 17, of Plantation.
"His mother is," piped in Dan's father, Daniel Marino Sr., who said she called after hearing about the incident to make sure he was OK.
"They're afraid of Wave Runners anyway," said young Marino.
That's true, agreed Charlie Craig of Margate, also riding a Super Jet.
"I've been coming here 10 years and see gators all the time," Craig said. "I'm not afraid of them, even in mating season."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines

[Laemanctus]

Ich habe auch gerade nen Bericht drüber gesehn. Ich glaube das die Joggerin runter ans Wasser gestiegen ist. Denn das Tier wäre diesen Kanal doch überhaupt nicht raufgekommen. Tja und was wird jetzt ? Das Tier wird gefangen und getötet. Es tut mir wirklich sehr sehr Leid um das Leben der Frau aber jetzt wird ein Alligator sterben weil sich ein Mensch (mal wieder) falsch verhalten hat...

[Ralf Sommerlad]

Na ja....Alligatoren bewohnen fast jeden See,Teich,Fluss, Bach, selbst Feuerlöschteiche in den Städten Floridas. Eine Zahl, die sich zwischen 1 und 2 Millionen Tiere alleine für Florida bewegt, spricht Bände. Jedes Jahr ziehen aber fast 2 Millionen Menschen nach Florida zu, die Grundstückspreise explodieren. Es kommt selbstverständlich immer öfter zu ( nicht immer ungefährlichen) Begegnungen zwischen Alligatoren und Menschen und ich gehe fest davon aus, dass auch die Zahl der Angriffe zunehmen wird. Das ist eine traurige Entwicklung für beide Seiten...aber Frank Mazzotti hat sicherlich recht, wenn er darauf hinweist, dass jede Woche mehr Menschen im Strassenverkehr sterben, als in den letzten 40,50 Jahren durch Alligatoren umgebracht worden sind.
Übrigens sterben mehr Menschen durch Blitzschlag, Bienenstiche und Haushunde als durch Alligatorangriffe.
Die Behörden geben sich alle erdenkliche Mühe, diese Angriffe einzuschränken.
"Dont feed or molest an Alligator" - mindestens 500 US$ Strafe stehen auf Verstösse und oft auch Haftstrafen. Dann aber kommt der "Crocodile Jumper" Steve Irwin ins TV und zeigt unbedarften Menschen, auch Kindern, dass so ein Alligator bei weitem nicht so gefährlich sei als ein Leistenkrokodil und händelt einen 2 m Alligator, den er gerade vorher aus einem Tümpel gefischt hat, oder er zeigt den "sorglosen"Umgang mit Klapperschlangen. Die Zahl der Giftschlangenbisse, gerade bei Kindern, hat nach Untersuchungen der University of Florida zugenommen und es gibt nicht wenige Wissenschaftler, die solchem Sensationsfernsehen ein gerüttelt Mass an Schuld geben.

[Ralf Sommerlad]

Es wird leider Schlimmer:

AP
May 14, 11:43 PM EDT

Florida marks third deadly alligator attack in less than a week

By JENNIFER KAY
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- The bodies of two women, both apparently killed by alligators, were found Sunday less than a week after a similar death in a state that had seen just 17 confirmed fatal attacks by the animals in the previous 58 years.

Annemarie Campbell, 23, of Paris, Tenn., was attacked while snorkling in a secluded recreation area near Lake George, said state wildlife spokeswoman Kat Kelley. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

"The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth," said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore. "They jumped into the water and somehow pulled her out of the gator's mouth."

Campbell pronounced dead at the scene. Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury, said Amigliore.



In Pinellas County, the death of another woman whose body was found early Sunday in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg also was blamed on an alligator, authorities said.

Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.

The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which "did play some part in the victim's death," according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.

"We don't know the condition she was in when this happened," said state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse.

It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.

Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.

On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.

Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.

What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

"As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more," Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. "They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks."

Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.

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On the Net:

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission's alligator management Web site: http://myfwc.com/gators/

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