A woman walking on a golf course near her home in southwest Florida was fatally attacked by two large alligators when she slipped and fell into a pond, authorities said Saturday.
After the unidentified elderly woman fell into the pond, she “struggled to stay afloat,” the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“While in the water, two alligators were observed near the victim and eventually grabbed her while she was in the water,” the statement added.
The tragedy occurred Friday night around 8 pm at the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club in Englewood, about 30 miles south of Sarasota.
Her body was found shortly after and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
An alligator hunter with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission removed the two suspected alligators, one 8 feet 10 inches long and the other 7 feet 7 inches, as part of the investigation, the police said. sheriff’s office.
“The FWC and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office will work together on this investigation until the Sarasota County Medical Examiner’s Office determines the cause of death,” the wildlife agency said in a statement.
The country club is located in a 1,000-acre gated community that features lakes and nature preserves, according to its website.
Boca Royale Golf and Country Club is a roughly 1,000-acre gated community in southern Sarasota County with homes, lakes, golf courses and nature preserves, according to its website. There are about 1,000 houses on the property, several on the water.
Doug Foote, the country club’s general manager, declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing. But he told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune there were alligator warning signs posted near the water.
A local resident told the Tribune that there are too many alligators in the area.
Fatal alligator attacks in the state are rare. From 1948 to 2021, Florida reported 442 unprovoked alligator bite incidents; 26 resulted in deaths, according to the Wildlife Commission.
A man was killed last month in South Carolina when an 11-foot alligator dragged him into a retention pond in a Myrtle Beach country club community.
