LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. — After a woman was attacked by an 11-foot gator in Martin County, WPTV’s Michael Hoffman connected with Stone Lequerique, one of a handful of gator wranglers in Palm Beach County.
He relocates gators, and says that woman is lucky to be alive.
“She's very lucky,” said Lequerique. “If that gator wanted to grab her and take her under, he would have.”
WATCH: Wrangler says gators over a certain size cannot be relocated
For 12 years, Lequerique has centered his life around the capture and relocation of nuisance gators. He says Wednesday night’s attack was a textbook scenario.
“He probably saw her swimming in the water,” said Lequerique. “When she's in the water, the gator can only see her head and her shoulders, the majority of her body is underwater. So he went over, probably thinking she was a raccoon or a possum or a small fox, went to grab her, realized she was bigger than he thought, and probably decided to let go.”
He says he spoke with the wrangler called out to Martin County, and because of its size and bite mark, they determined it to be an 11-foot bull gator, territorial — especially this time of year.
Region Martin County
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“Right now, we’re in the end of July, so we're really in the home stretch, the end of mating season. But that could play a huge factor into the aggression of the alligator,” said Lequerique.
He says gators of that size can’t actually be relocated into the wild.
“Typically when an alligator attacks a human, most of the time they're euthanized,” said Lequerique. “Any alligator over four feet long, cannot relocate back into the wild. So, studies have shown if you relocate an alligator to another spot, the alligator, most of the time, will come back. And now that that alligator has attacked a human, he's not going to be relocated.”
Region Martin County
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Lequerique did share some advice for anyone looking to take a swim in one of Florida’s many bodies of water.
“My advice would be, if you see a body of water, expect for their expect for there to be an alligator in that body of water,” said Lequerique.
