Be careful where there are gators

[Stormlover]

Alligator Likely Stalked Jogger On Land Before Attack

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/images/50_vid_051206_vod_model.jpg

POSTED: 7:06 am EDT May 12, 2006
UPDATED: 7:11 am EDT May 12, 2006

An alligator that killed a woman jogger in Broward County, Fla., likely stalked her on land before the attack, according to a Local 6 News report Friday.

The Broward County medical examiner said the alligator attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, of Davie, on land and then dragged her dismembered body into a nearby lake.



Her body was found by construction workers after she didn't return from a jog the previous night.


"It is my professional opinion that the alligator attacked the woman while she was on land," said Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward County's medical examiner. "She died of traumatic injuries sustained by an alligator attack, a mixture of blood loss and shock, and in my opinion died very fast."

Perper ruled out drowning because little water was found in her stomach and lungs, according to on story on The Miami Herald's Web site.

Earlier, Officer Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, said the department had witnesses who had seen a woman matching Jimenez's description dangling her feet over the water's edge, but no one saw an attack, Pino said.

Trappers will try to catch and kill the animal, believed to be eight to 10-feet long, and the contents of its stomach will be examined, Pino said.

Perper said the alligator appeared to have crawled on to land and killed Jimenez and then dragged her body into the water.

He said alligators generally pull their prey into the water.

"When they are hungry they can be very very aggressive and attack for food purposes," he said.

There have been 25 fatal alligator attacks in Florida since 1948, according to the wildlife commission.

[The Bug]

There was another attack locally here but she survived and another case in Tampa just yesterday where a three footer was in a lady's garage.

We had a big one move in to my lake....I caught a picture of him sunbathing....


Our little ponds and swamps are drying up and they are looking for bigger waters ... and it is mating season....they have been warning us to stay clear of waters for a while.

[Hemorhage]

I heard somewheres that they got a gator, don't know exactly if its the same gator or not, but this particular gator they got had some human parts in it! /pule

[Stormlover]

Yep,hem,they got the gator,had her body parts in it's belly..now this bad news:2 more die,making 3 in less than a week in Florida

MIAMI (AP) -- Florida had seen just 17 confirmed fatal alligator attacks in the previous 58 years. In less than a week, there appears to have been three.

The bodies of two women were found Sunday some 130 miles apart.

Annemarie Campbell, 23, of Paris, Tenn., was attacked while snorkeling in a secluded recreation area near Lake George, said state wildlife spokeswoman Kat Kelley. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

"The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth," said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore.




By poking the alligator's eyes and trying to open its jaws, the men were able to free Campbell's body, but she was dead when they found her, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury.

"You just don't think of your daughter dying from an alligator," Campbell's mother, Dawn Marie Yankeelov, told the newspaper.

Authorities estimate the animal was 7 to 9 feet long.

A-P correspondent Jennifer Kay reports search efforts are under way to locate the alligator's responsible for the two women's deaths.



Buy AP Photo Reprints






In Pinellas County, the body of another woman apparently killed by an alligator was found in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg, authorities said.

Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.

The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which "did play some part in the victim's death," according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.

"We don't know the condition she was in when this happened," state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse said.

It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.

Cooper's family had not heard from her for about three months and she had a history of drug abuse, her sister, Dannette Goodrich, told The Orlando Sentinel.

Gary Goodrich, Cooper's brother-in-law, told the newspaper that officials said her purse was found near the water and drugs may have played a factor.

Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.

On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.

Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.

What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

"As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more," Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. "They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks."

Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.

[The Bug]

These stories disturb me but I guess when we move into their home...this is what we should expect.

As you probably know, I've been spending almost every weekend down in Lake Placid. My mom lives on Lake June in Winter. We've yet to see a gator actually in the lake. We see them across the street from her house in teh retention pond...but not in the lake.

So, I asked my step-dad why they weren't in the lake and he said it is because LP is still on the ridge and we have sandy bottoms vs. merky bottoms like here in Polk County. Interesting notion I suppose....but it would explain why there haven't been any reports of attacks in LP or anywhere on "the ridge". Anyway...

People feed these damn creatures and expect them to be "friendly" they are wild animals and they only know to attack.

[eyendastorm]

Did I hear correctly that a gator attacked a JOGGER??? Are these things comin' out the water to attack people? That's just crazy!!! Guess people should consider carrying a lil gun in a waist purse if things are getting that bad over there. How frightening! /shocked

[The Bug]

a gun would help but they stalk their prey. The jogger probably never saw or heard him coming. That is what is so sad. :(