An elderly woman died after falling into a pond along a Florida golf course and was attacked by two alligators, authorities said.
The incident happened shortly before 8pm Friday at Boca Royale Golf and Country Club in Englewood, about 30 miles south of Sarasota.
The woman fell into a pond along the course near her home “and struggled to stay afloat,” the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Boca Royale Golf and Country Club in Englewood, Florida, is seen here in a May 2022 Google Maps Street View image.
Google Maps Street View
“While in the water two alligators were observed near the victim and finally caught her while she was in the water,” the sheriff’s office said.
The woman, who has not been identified by authorities, has been pronounced dead at the scene.
An alligator tracker from the Florida Fish Conservation and Wildlife Commission responded and removed the alligators as part of the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said an 8’10 ” alligator and a 7’7 ” alligator seen near the pond were removed. The agency said it is unknown at this time if the alligators were involved in the incident, but that it has no plans to remove any additional alligators from the area at this time.
“The FWC and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office will work together on this investigation until the Sarasota County Forensic Office determines the cause of death,” the agency said in a statement.
The sheriff’s office gave no further information amid the investigation.
Boca Royale Golf and Country Club told ABC News that it has no comments at this time.
The country club is located in a 1,000-acre private gated community that includes lakes and nature reserves, according to its website.
Deadly caiman bites are rare. From 1948 to 2021, Florida reported 442 incidents of unprovoked alligator bites, 26 of which resulted in fatalities, according to the Florida Fish Conservation and Wildlife Commission. In the past 10 years, the state has made an average of eight unprovoked bites a year that require medical treatment, the agency said.
The probability of someone being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator incident in Florida is about one in 3.1 million, according to the Florida Fish Conservation and Wildlife Commission.
A man believed to be looking for frisbees on a lake died in an alleged alligator attack in late May in Largo, a town in the Tampa Bay Area, police said.