Janice
07-16-2005, 11:27 PM
HeraldTribune.com
Alligator kills man in canal North Port lawn worker, 41, jumped
into Port Charlotte waterway to cool off
PORT CHARLOTTE -- A lawn worker who jumped into a canal near the Myakka River to cool off was attacked and killed by a 12-foot, 1,200-pound alligator Friday night.
Witnesses said Kevin Albert Murray, 41, of North Port, routinely took a swim after doing yard work for the residents whose homes are along the Apollo Waterway, in a sparsely populated area near the Sarasota County line.
According to Dee Hawkins, a spokeswoman for Charlotte County Fire & EMS, neighbors had seen the alligator in the canal many times but did not think it was dangerous.
Richard and Laura Bernhard were sitting in their back yard at about 7:15 p.m. when Murray jumped off a dock into the canal and was attacked, sheriff's officials said.
The Bernhards saw the alligator pull Murray under the water. Deputies arrived a few minutes later, followed by officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who arrived at the home at about 7:45 p.m.
The commission officers were in a boat searching the canal when the alligator resurfaced, with Murray still clamped in its jaws.
The alligator went back underwater, but let go of Murray, whose body was recovered at 7:55 p.m.
The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.
"The alligator's first instinct when it's attacking is to spin and drown the victim," said Bo Davis, an alligator trapper with Fish and Wildlife. "In this particular incident, chomping and spinning."
Fish and Wildlife officers continued to search for the alligator in the dark, setting out buoys with hooks and meat attached to them.
Severe weather halted the search for a short time.
They discovered the alligator at about 8:45 p.m., resting in bushes near where they'd recovered Murray's body.
The officers shot the alligator with an arrow attached to a rope, pulled it closer and then shot and killed it.
Davis said the agency had received no calls about a nuisance alligator in that part of the Apollo Waterway. But it had received several calls about gators spotted a mile away.
Alligators are found in all 67 counties of Florida, but attacks on humans are rare, according to Fish & Wildlife.
As of May 2005, more than 340 attacks on humans had been documented in Florida since 1948, with 16 resulting in deaths.
The last attack on a person in Charlotte County occurred in February 2003, when an Englewood woman trimming bushes near a retention pond had her arm ripped off by a 6-foot-3-inch alligator.
Alligator kills man in canal North Port lawn worker, 41, jumped
into Port Charlotte waterway to cool off
PORT CHARLOTTE -- A lawn worker who jumped into a canal near the Myakka River to cool off was attacked and killed by a 12-foot, 1,200-pound alligator Friday night.
Witnesses said Kevin Albert Murray, 41, of North Port, routinely took a swim after doing yard work for the residents whose homes are along the Apollo Waterway, in a sparsely populated area near the Sarasota County line.
According to Dee Hawkins, a spokeswoman for Charlotte County Fire & EMS, neighbors had seen the alligator in the canal many times but did not think it was dangerous.
Richard and Laura Bernhard were sitting in their back yard at about 7:15 p.m. when Murray jumped off a dock into the canal and was attacked, sheriff's officials said.
The Bernhards saw the alligator pull Murray under the water. Deputies arrived a few minutes later, followed by officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who arrived at the home at about 7:45 p.m.
The commission officers were in a boat searching the canal when the alligator resurfaced, with Murray still clamped in its jaws.
The alligator went back underwater, but let go of Murray, whose body was recovered at 7:55 p.m.
The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.
"The alligator's first instinct when it's attacking is to spin and drown the victim," said Bo Davis, an alligator trapper with Fish and Wildlife. "In this particular incident, chomping and spinning."
Fish and Wildlife officers continued to search for the alligator in the dark, setting out buoys with hooks and meat attached to them.
Severe weather halted the search for a short time.
They discovered the alligator at about 8:45 p.m., resting in bushes near where they'd recovered Murray's body.
The officers shot the alligator with an arrow attached to a rope, pulled it closer and then shot and killed it.
Davis said the agency had received no calls about a nuisance alligator in that part of the Apollo Waterway. But it had received several calls about gators spotted a mile away.
Alligators are found in all 67 counties of Florida, but attacks on humans are rare, according to Fish & Wildlife.
As of May 2005, more than 340 attacks on humans had been documented in Florida since 1948, with 16 resulting in deaths.
The last attack on a person in Charlotte County occurred in February 2003, when an Englewood woman trimming bushes near a retention pond had her arm ripped off by a 6-foot-3-inch alligator.