Alligator Attacks Man Swimming in Florida Lake

A man in central Florida was left with an amputated arm after an alligator attacked him in Lake Monroe early Sunday morning.

According to local reports, officials with the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) said that the man, who was reportedly homeless, was swimming in the lake in Seminole County just before 2 a.m. EST when an alligator attacked him. The incident left the man with his arm amputated from the elbow down, according to WFTV.

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The FWC said that they were investigating what led up to the attack. The commission’s public information coordinator, Lauren Calerbout, told WESH that the incident was uncommon.

“Alligators are naturally very weary of people, they’re not really looking to harm us in most cases…A lot of cases with alligator bites, a lot of times it’s a case of mistaken identity,” Claerbout told the outlet.

She added that alligator attacks usually occur because the reptile mistakes humans for food. This can occur if a gator has been fed by humans in the past, according to the FWC’s website, because the animals “lose their natural wariness and instead learn to associate people with the availability of food.”

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Between 2012 and 2022, there were an average of eight unprovoked alligator attacks reported in Florida per year that were “serious enough to require professional medical treatment,” according to the FWC. The likelihood of a gator attacking a Floridan unprovoked is roughly one in 3.1 million.

Gator attacks also rarely result in fatalities. Between 1948 and 2022, the FWC said that there were 453 “unprovoked bite incidents” reported in the state. Only 26 (or 5.7 percent) of those incidents resulted in a human fatality.

To reduce the chances of getting in a conflict with an alligator, the FWC recommends that residents only swim in designated swimming waters during the daylight hours, noting that gators are most active between dusk and dawn.

If you are attacked by an alligator or a crocodile, the FWC recommends fighting back, including by making as much noise as possible. Officials also say to try hitting or kicking the gator or poking it in the eyes—alligators will often let go of its prey if it is not easily overpowered.

Newsweek has reached out to the FWC for additional information.