Alligators attack

last updated 8 January 2015

Gainesville, Fla.

A 23-year-old woman snorkeling in Lake George was mauled to death by a 9-foot-long alligator, the third such attack in Florida in just a week. Earlier, an alligator killed and partially devoured a 43-year-old woman near St. Petersburg. In Fort Lauderdale, a gator grabbed and killed a 28-year-old university student while she jogged along a canal. Prior to the three incidents, Florida had recorded only 17 lethal alligator attacks in 58 years. Wildlife experts speculated that with alligators’ habitats shrinking because of development, they are hungrier and more aggressive.