Man attacked by 7-foot alligator outside Fla. hotel

NORTH PORT, Fla. (WBBH) – Wildlife officers are investigating following a 7-foot alligator bit a chunk out of a man’s leg outdoors a Florida resort.

Witnesses say 49-12 months-outdated Ray Schott, the stay-in upkeep man at Heat Mineral Springs Motel, was using tobacco in the motel’s courtyard soon after midnight Tuesday when he assumed he observed a puppy on a extensive leash coming out of the bushes near him.

Schott promptly recognized it was not a dog but a 7-foot alligator.

“When it’s a pet dog, it’s not as terrifying as when you obtain out it is a gator,” explained a witness named Will.

The witness rushed outside the house when he listened to Schott’s spouse screaming for assistance. Deputies were being currently at the motel, bordering the alligator.

“This sergeant, he jumped in the middle of the back again of that gator, folded him up and taped him up into a ball,” Will stated.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Place of work suggests the gator bit the man’s right leg, held on and began pulling aside his leg muscle mass until finally it ripped a chunk off.

“He was laying there, and I just simply just requested if they experienced a tourniquet on that or everything. And he was in fairly a bit of suffering,” Will explained.

Schott’s spouse of 35 several years says her partner is grateful to be alive as he recovers in the healthcare facility.

Deputies believe that the alligator arrived from a drain close to the motel. A trapper relocated it to a safer spot.

Will claims he had seen a 12-foot alligator lurking all around the assets right before but not the one concerned in the attack.

“I suggest, it takes place. This is Florida. I signify, you can count on to see a gator, or you’re not having any enjoyable,” he reported.

Wildlife industry experts say serious accidents from alligators are unusual.