The worst years for fatalities were 20, with three people dying each of those years from Florida alligator attacks. The chance of someone being attacked is one in 3.2 million. Residents had been warned about a wandering alligator in the days before the most recent fatality, and officials believe she was targeted because she was walking her two dogs - which are very attractive prey.įlorida alligator bite statistics date back to 1948, ranging around three major bites per year. This behavior was considered highly unusual, not only because it was unprovoked, but also because alligators just don’t normally attack humans, much less want to eat them. Interest in Florida alligator attacks spiked in 2016 after two-year-old Lane Graves was snatched by a gator at a Florida resort, and again recently when a woman’s arm was found inside a gator’s intestinal tract and her body in a nearby lake. According to Nick Wiley, the executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “People - even small people - are not their typical prey.” Alligators go where they want, which includes yards, golf courses and anywhere else food might be available.Īlligators typically don’t think of people as food.
#Female alligator wrestler drivers#
Since Florida alligators don’t pay much attention to roadside barriers or property lines, many drivers and pedestrians have learned the hard way to keep their eyes peeled in the Sunshine State. There is even an 80-mile stretch of highway in the Everglades called “ Alligator Alley” (and there is only one gas station the entire way, so fill up before you go). That includes marshes, lakes, canals, rivers and swamps, and that roughly equals one alligator for every 15 residents. Facts and statistics, plus what to do if you’re attackedĭid you know that more than 1 million alligators live in Florida’s freshwater systems?