{"id":2187875,"date":"2025-08-11T06:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T05:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2187875"},"modified":"2025-08-09T10:51:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T09:51:31","slug":"alligator-clamps-down-on-womans-arm-and-drags-her-underwater-florida-cops-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/alligator-clamps-down-on-womans-arm-and-drags-her-underwater-florida-cops-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Alligator clamps down on woman\u2019s arm and drags her underwater, Florida cops say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A woman in waist-deep water was trapped in an alligator\u2019s jaws and pulled underwater in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River in Florida, according to investigators.<\/p>\n<p>She suffered injuries to her hand and wrist, but survived, the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>The attack happened just before 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, near Palm City, about a 105-mile drive north from Miami.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 27-year-old female victim and her boyfriend took their boat out to the South Fork River near SW Linden Street,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s office said in a July 23 news release. \u201cWhile in waist deep water with their dog, an alligator bit the hand and wrist of the female and momentarily pulled her under.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FMartinCountyFireRescue%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0tt8Jur4wvhYy74iTLCCKYW3ibK91VxP1ZTujNdBkn1NV4FztcBiKNJELcLnBcgE7l&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"754\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Details of how the woman reacted were not released, but her actions prompted the alligator to release its grip. Alligators routinely pull prey underwater in an attempt to drown it, experts say.<\/p>\n<p>The woman was helped out of the water by her boyfriend and taken to a boat ramp at Charlie Leighton Park, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>She was taken to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital for treatment. Her identity has not been released.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer boyfriend and dog were not injured,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n<p>A licensed trapper was being sent by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to catch the alligator.<\/p>\n<p>A size estimate was not released, but alligators can reach 14 feet in Florida, FWC says.<\/p>\n<p>It is estimated the state has 1.3 milllion alligators and they can be found in all 67 counties, FWC reports.<\/p>\n<p><i>This <a href=\"https:\/\/amp.miamiherald.com\/news\/state\/florida\/article311299195.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article<\/a> by Mark Price was first published by The Miami Herald on 24 July 2025. Lead Image: Moelyn Photos\/Getty.<br \/>\n<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>Help to protect wildlife<\/h2>\n<p><em>Help to protect wildlife by donating as little as $5 &#8211; it only takes a minute!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?default_interval=m&amp;amount=50\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 75w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 100w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 150w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 240w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 320w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 500w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 640w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 800w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1024w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1280w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">conservation partners<\/a> spend at least 90 percent of the money raised on actual fieldwork\u00a0rather than administration and fundraising.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman in waist-deep water was trapped in an alligator\u2019s jaws and pulled underwater in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River in Florida, according to investigators. She suffered injuries to her hand and wrist, but survived, the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a news release. The attack happened just before 8 p.m. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2204761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/2017\/08\/08\/NTHR\/ghows-TH-2a19baed-f698-4b5f-84d0-3085d8d4fd2e-a833a015.jpeg?","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[11196],"class_list":["post-2187875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-alligator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2204761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}