A man walking his dogs in southwest Florida was attacked by an 11-foot alligator, officials say.
The attack happened in Collier County the evening of April 19, WFTX reported.
The man was bitten in the leg and taken to a hospital, and a nuisance alligator trapper was sent to the location, the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission told news outlets, including WBBH.
In an interview with WINK, the gator bite victim said a neighbor, Walter Rudder, saved him from the attack.
“I was driving back to our house when I saw someone laying on the ground, waving his arm,” Rudder said.
It took him a moment to realize what was going on, then he reacted. “We backed the car out, and I drove over the alligator,” Rudder told WINK. “It got loose, let go of the leg and ran off towards the pond.”
McClatchy News reached out to FWC officials and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office on April 22 for more information and was awaiting a response.
Alligators can be found in all 67 counties in Florida, according to the FWC. Wildlife specialists urge the public not to feed gators, which will learn to associate humans with food.
Keep a safe distance from gators, swim in designated areas during daytime hours and keep pets on leashes, the FWC advises.
Alligator mating season typically takes place in May and June, but “courtship” can begin in early April, according to the FWC.
Collier County contains the Naples metropolitan area, about a 210-mile drive southeast from Tampa.
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