Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!

Spate of Gator Attacks Has Floridians Nervous

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Florida has suffered a rash of alligator attacks in the past week. A jogger was killed last week in Fort Lauderdale, and two other women were killed in two separate alligator attacks over the weekend.

Florida wildlife officials are baiting traps, hoping to capture the alligators believed responsible for the deaths. One woman was killed while snorkeling in a lake near Gainesville; another woman's body was found in a canal in a subdivision north of St. Petersburg.

Last week in Fort Lauderdale, another woman was killed by an alligator after she jogged near a canal. Officials say that such a cluster of alligator attacks is very unusual. Before the recent killings, there had been only 17 fatal attacks in the past 58 years.

Melissa Block talks with Nick Wiley, director of the Hunting and Game Division of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email