Man bitten by 7-foot alligator after mistaking it for dog in bushes at Florida motel

A man strolling around a Florida motel at 12:30 a.m. made the mistake of assuming a dark shape in the bushes was a dog, and he pulled back to find a 7-foot alligator attached to his leg, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

It happened Tuesday, June 7, at the Warm Mineral Springs Motel in North Port, and the alligator managed to “rip a chunk” from his man’s leg, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. North Port is about 85 miles south of downtown Tampa.

The 49-year-old victim, whose name was not released, survived the attack and was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Venice, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators say a deputy was near the motel on another call “when he heard the man yelling that he had been bitten.” The deputy then called for assistance.

“He (the victim) stated he was walking around the outside area of the motel when he noticed a dark figure moving along the bushes on the shell path,” the sheriff’s office said.

“The figure appeared to look like a dog with a long leash, which is why he wasn’t hesitant to move out of the way. That’s when the alligator bit his right leg, holding on, and pulling on his muscle/tissue. He advised he attempted to get away at that point and felt the alligator rip a chunk of his muscle/tissue off.”

The deputy captured the alligator and held it until a trapper arrived.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the incident and reports the alligator was 7 feet, 1 inch long and “was removed from the property.”

Standard procedure in alligator attacks is for the predator to be removed as a public threat by a licensed trapper under contract with FWC. The trapper is permitted to harvest the alligator’s meat and hide, the state says.

The attack comes just a week after a man was killed by an alligator at a city park lake in Largo, Florida. That alligator has not yet been captured.

An estimated 1.3 million alligators live in Florida, and the state averages “eight unprovoked alligator bites per year,” according to a 2021 report by FWC.

This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Man bitten by 7-foot alligator after mistaking it for dog in bushes at Florida motel."