While walking her dog in Southwest Florida, an 84-year-old Florida woman was viciously attacked by an alligator that severed a portion of her leg, according to officials.
“It was like a torpedo. … I didn’t have time to think,” the victim, Dolores Boppel, stated to NBC News.
Around 7 p.m. on Thursday, Boppel was attacked while walking her dog near a pond in the North Fort Myers neighborhood. She swiftly threw her tiny dog into the air to avoid the seven-foot, three-inch gator chomping on her leg when she noticed it staring at her.
Additionally, Boppel was injured in her hand and arm, according to Bradley Johnson, a spokesman for the Florida Wildlife Commission.
After being brought to a nearby hospital, Johnson stated that the elderly patient is in “stable condition” and is “doing well.” The dog was not hurt. An other official stated via email that the alligator was taken out once it was trapped.
The alligator was “relatively average” in height at seven feet, three inches, according to Johnson.
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According to ClickOrlando.com, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission documented over 450 instances of alligator bites on humans in the state between 1948 and 2022, with thirty of those bites ending in death.
A homeless Florida grandmother was killed by a violent alligator attack in September 2023 in Largo, a small city four miles south of Clearwater. The horrific aftermath of the incident was captured on bodycam film that surfaced in June.
In the same month, a homeless guy lost half of his arm while swimming in Lake Monroe in Seminole County around two in the morning. He disregarded the warning of a local.
