A 71-year-old man fishing on the shore of a Florida lake was killed Friday by a nearly 12-foot alligator, the second fatal attack reported this year.
Steven Hamilton of Winter Garden was standing on the shore of Lake Apopka at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Orlando, when he was attacked around 5 p.m., the Winter Garden Police Department said.
The presence of other active alligators in the water complicated any chance of rescuing Hamilton, whose body was recovered about two hours later, Winter Garden Fire Chief Jose Gainza told FOX35.
Police Capt. Michael Mason said authorities were not alerted in advance that an alligator was near the lake’s shore, possibly because it “has tons of alligators in it.” He said police launched a joint investigation with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, whose trappers captured and killed the alligator.
Mason reminded people to be aware of their surroundings and respect wildlife.
“Keep your distance,” he said. “It looks like it’s docile, it looks like your Florida emblem, but it can be dangerous.”
After a 31-year-old Oviedo woman, Brittany Clark, was killed by a 13-foot alligator near her home in June, Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube introduced a resolution calling for the Comptroller General and U.S. Department of the Interior to study the impacts of the American alligator’s listing as “threatened due to similarity of appearance” on Florida’s ability to remove nuisance alligators from residential and commercial waterways.
