A 13-year-old girl was injured this Sunday by an alligator attack in Florida, a state where this month an 80-year-old woman fell into a lagoon she died when attacked by two of those reptiles and a man suffered serious injuries when he was bitten by another.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) of Florida reported Monday that the latest attack was recorded this weekend in the hardee countyin central Florida.
The incident occurred near a boat ramp in the Gardner area, in the West Florida town of Zolfo Springs.
The minor was hospitalized for injuries but her life is not in danger and remains in a stable situation, according to the WSTP channel in Tampa.
A team specialized in hunting these reptiles was sent to the scene of the incident while the investigation continues.
Three attacks in two weeks
This weekend’s attack is added to the one suffered last Wednesday by a man in Manatee County, on the west coast of Florida, in which he was seriously injured.
The man, identified as Eric Merda, 43, was attacked by an alligator in a camping areaaccording to data provided by the FWC.
An elderly woman from Englewood, on the southwestern coast of Florida, had died a week before by falling into a pond and being bitten by two alligators.
The two animals responsible for the death of 80-year-old Rose Wiegand were later sacrificed by officials of the FWC.
According to a witness, the woman accidentally fell to a pond on the golf course, near his house.
Third death in the year
The woman became third death from alligator attacks this year in the United States following another death in Florida of a man on May 31 and another man near a lagoon in South Carolina on June 24.
Florida is home to a large population of alligators due to multiple encounters of these reptiles with humans near their homes, golf courses or highways. Fatal attacks are, however, rare in the state of Florida.
According to FWC data on human-alligator interaction, since 1948 there have been records of more than 20 documented cases of death of people because of attacks by these reptiles in Florida.
The state of Florida has an alligator population that is currently estimated at 1.3 million copies of all sizes and spread throughout the 67 counties of this territory in the southeastern United States.
