A woman suffered life-altering injuries in an alligator attack on the Silver River near Ocala, one of Florida’s best-known waterways, prompting nearby boaters to rush in and help.<\/p>\n
During the rescue, a rope was turned into a makeshift tourniquet, The Daily Beast<\/a> reported, citing Fox 35 Orlando<\/a>.<\/p>\n What happened?<\/p>\n While swimming with others in the river Saturday, the woman noticed an alligator coming toward the group.\u00a0<\/p>\n She tried to fend it off with a paddle, but the animal seized her right arm and pulled her underwater.<\/p>\n John Gamache, a boater who was having lunch on the water with his father, quickly moved toward the swimmers, per Fox 35.\u00a0<\/p>\n His approach appears to have driven the gator away, after which he helped the injured woman and improvised the tourniquet.<\/p>\n Gamache and his father brought the other swimmers and children onto the boat. They then took the group to a boat launch, where paramedics took over, Fox 35 reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wildlife officers removed the 9-foot, 8-inch alligator, and the area reopened Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The outlet noted the woman was released from the hospital and was recovering at home, according to her family.<\/p>\n Why does it matter?<\/p>\n In places where rivers, springs, and wetlands overlap with popular swimming and boating spots, people and wild animals can find themselves in dangerously close quarters.<\/p>\n The BBC<\/a> took a close look at why wild animals attack humans, noting that many attacks happen because human activity expands into or intensifies in animal habitat.\u00a0<\/p>\n In this case, the alligator was in its natural environment while swimmers were using the same space for recreation.<\/p>\n An attack involving a wild animal can lead to disability, trauma, medical costs, and emotional consequences for an entire family or community.<\/p>\n What’s being done?<\/p>\n Wildlife officers responded by removing the alligator involved, a step officials often take after an attack to reduce the risk of another one.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fast thinking by Gamache and his father helped get the woman out of the water, protect the rest of the group, and stabilize the injury until paramedics could take over.<\/p>\n In remote outdoor settings, those first few minutes can determine whether someone survives.<\/p>\n “It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere,” Gamache said. “Obviously, the minutes mattered.”<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman suffered life-altering injuries in an alligator attack on the Silver River near Ocala, one of Florida’s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1000894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[400742,365754,400743,159,67,132,68,837,398361],"class_list":["post-1000893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alligator-attack","tag-fox-35-orlando","tag-john-gamache","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-officers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117095561063829987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1000894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}