Cayman kills a pitbull dog on the grounds of a Florida university

Photo: FWC / Tim Donovan / EFE

A pit bull dog was attacked to death by an alligator on a college campus in Southwest Florida.shortly after the nature conservation agency warned Tuesday about the dangers posed by these alligator animals at the beginning of spring.

The dog was loose and roaming freely near the lake in front of the university when it was attacked by the alligator.according to Adam Brown, public information officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

“Unfortunately, the dog was not on a leash. I think the dog had gotten close to the edge of the pond, near a culvert,” Brown said. “It happened pretty quickly. I’m not sure if the owner saw it or saw the confusion or ruckus after the fact.”

The FWC received the call about the alligator attack around 7:45 pm yesterday and dispatched a licensed hunter through the agency’s State Nuisance Alligator Program (SNAP).

Said “hunter” caught two alligators of about two meters each, one of which would be the one that killed the pitbull dog.

As every year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) published its manual “Tips for safely coexisting with alligators”, something necessary in a state where, according to that same entity, there are about 1.3 millions of those reptiles spread across its 67 counties.

One of those animals, about two meters long, killed the pit bull of about 50 pounds on Monday in the parks of the State College of Florida in the town of Venice (west coast), as reported today by television channels in the area.

Alert for alligators in Florida

The signs of spring — warm weather, blooming, and nesting birds — are happening all over Florida. Warmer temperatures also mean alligators are more active and visible,” the FWC stresses in the manual released today.

Although it assures that serious injuries caused by alligators are rare in Florida, the FWC recommends keeping a safe distance and never feeding them, as well as swimming in rivers, lagoons, ponds or dams only in areas designated for that activity during the day and not at dusk or dawn.

“Keep pets on a leash and away from the water’s edge and never let them swim in fresh or brackish water. Pets can resemble natural prey for alligators,” the manual also stresses.

According to a report published in 2021 by Outforia, a digital media about nature and adventures, between 2009 and 2019, 247 people died in Florida in accidents with animals, a figure only surpassed by Texas (520) and California (299).

Human arm in the mouth of an alligator

On March 12, the discovery of a human arm in the mouth of an alligator moved the Florida police to open a homicide investigation.

During a routine patrol, a Florida Freshwater Game Commission biologist visiting the John C. and Mariana Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area saw an alligator with a human arm dangling from its mouth.

Speaking to Newsweek, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder recounted, “She noticed a medium-sized alligator with a human arm in its mouth.”

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