June 30, 2026
FL Woman Mauled To Death By Alligator; Third Attack In Just One Week
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castro 
RSS Feed Despite efforts by Florida officials warning residents and visitors about the threat of alligators during mating season, there have been three separate attacks in that state in just one week. The most recent attack happened on Sunday, when a 31-year-old woman hiking with her boyfriend and best friend, died after a massive alligator first bit off one arm, and then attacked her second, as her boyfriend desperately called 9-1-1 for help. She died on her way to the hospital. Two others were injured by alligators including a 19-year-old snorkeler and a young boy who was bitten in the hand while fishing. Florida officials are telling folks: “Assume alligators are present in any body of water in Florida.”
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, theo folks. It is Tuesday, June thirtieth, and three three alligator attacks in one week in central Florida. One of them was deadly and it is horrific. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. Horrific if we just heard it described to us by police Robes. We have a ten plus minute nine to one one call that goes through and in which we are taken into what is a horrific scene of a woman who's been attacked by an alligator and she has two friends one or boyfriend another friend Robes who are desperately trying to get her help. We've heard a lot of ninem on one calls in our Lives, Robes. This one was gutting.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: It really was.
00:00:53
Speaker 3: And just to see the transcript, you listened to the entire nine one one call. I just read the tree ranscript of it, and I heard that they were describing screaming, just absolute sheer terror as this boyfriend and the best friend of this thirty one year old woman are desperately trying to save her life.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: So this is happening now at a time, and again it's Florida. We all generally have an idea. They're alligators in Florida. But for those of us that don't live their robes, we don't keep in mind every year that this is the time of year, rodes. I didn't. I don't. It doesn't register to me that we're sitting in the middle of alligator mating season and that's a dangerous time.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the height of mating season.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: They say, it's May and June, and that is when the males typically are the most aggressive because yes, they are looking for mates. So it's basically male dominant alligators in heat and you do not want to get in their way.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: And another part of that robes is that they're branching out. So what they're doing is they're not staying in maybe the swamps, so the everglades of other places that you know, people might sometimes even go to try to spot them, and they have tours and things for this, don't they.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: I've been on one before in the Everglades.
00:02:12
Speaker 1: See they have that. That's one thing, bro. But what we're talking about they leave those spots. I've never understood this. I never knew this. But the weaker males can't hold their territory against the big.
00:02:23
Speaker 2: Dogs that makes sense.
00:02:24
Speaker 1: So they have to start finding other territory to start possibly finding mates. So what do they do. They go into areas robes where they don't usually go. And that is why they say, we see more and more of these robes. I just we are not living in Florida. I hear about it and do it. It's something about it every once in a while. But robe, this is prime time for danger season in Florida.
00:02:46
Speaker 3: And to think that three attacks happened in one week, this was all.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: They were all in the central Florida area.
00:02:53
Speaker 3: But look, you had a thirty one year old woman who was viciously killed, a nineteen year old attacked while scuba diving, and a child a juvenile male is how they've described.
00:03:03
Speaker 2: And we don't know his exact age.
00:03:05
Speaker 3: But he was just fishing along a river with his family. And so, yes, things that you wouldn't necessarily when you're snorkeling. I don't know, are you thinking about alligators again?
00:03:17
Speaker 1: Where the area?
00:03:17
Speaker 3: You know? What?
00:03:18
Speaker 1: In that one we'll get to. Wasn't that? No they closed it afterwards, No, no, no, snorkeling is okay there, but they did close it afterwards. Caught that gator. So it is back open. No, my thought was, wait, was he supposed to be there? Yeah, it was.
00:03:30
Speaker 3: And to think that the snorkling was open, the river was open, that would make me even think less about worrying about an alligator. I know, when you're in the ocean, you're kind of aware that you've got predators out there. But yes, in Florida, I understand, if there's a body of water, there's a chance that there could be an alligator. But it's not top of mind for most folks. And if you were a resident there, I'm sure you hear about it on the news, and certainly this is a warning that comes every year, but there are a lot of visitors and tourists and folks.
00:03:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, no idea to.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: Even be on the lookout for.
00:04:02
Speaker 3: So when I'm hiking or snorkeling or fishing, am I thinking about an alligator coming up and attacking me?
00:04:10
Speaker 1: The way the sheriff out there put it, robes quote, every body of water could potentially have an alligator in it. He's talking about the state of Florida. That's frightening, he says, that's just it's the time of year. We get it. We live down here. We understand every body of water is potentially one that has an alligator in.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: Every lake, every pond, every river.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: Keep doing everything you can come up with. Anything that has water its possibly has an alligator in it. Let's start with his most latest incident, Robes. We're talking about the thirty one year old. This was the latest of the three attacks. This was the deadly one. And look, we'll tell you now we did consider but we're not going to play any of the nine to one one goal. It's a little difficult to hear, and it is well, it's difficult to hear robes just because of the audio and trying to make out what they're saying. But it's just difficult to hear as well. So we're not going to play that. But to give you an idea of what we're talking about. Ropes, they were. I heard a couple of different reports here they were. They actually did stop to swim, but he described the boyfriend that she was just kneeling at the time, so correctly. So let's start with this incident first.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, so she is.
00:05:16
Speaker 3: On a hike with her boyfriend and her best friend and yeah, it's hot. It's hot everywhere, but it's definitely hot in Florida. So, yes, they come up on a body of water and want to cool off, and so they went for a swim. But at the time of the attack, according to her best friend and her boyfriend, she was kneeling in about three inches.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Of water when the gator attacked.
00:05:39
Speaker 3: And just went straight for her arm.
00:05:44
Speaker 1: So they now robes at this point start to describe a pretty horrific scene that we actually here described in this nine to one to one audio in which they say, this alligator grabbed this one and by both arms and essentially ripped both off. One was taken completely off, the other as reported in the nine to one one call as it was happening. So I'm listening to the voice robes of a woman who was looking at her friend with one arm missing and the other barely hanging on. And this, I'll give you this quote at least told the nine one one operator quote, both arms are off, like basically nine one one operator asked, do you know where the other arm is? She replies, gone gone. So this alligator they did report it in this number one call as it was happening, that the alligator had taken off it was gone at the point, but robes this is at the I don't know, a little big Econ State Force is the place where people go camp, canoe, hike robes. The tough part of the call they couldn't describe their location.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: Because they were far off the trail, because.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: You can't just say I'm corner of Johnson Street and tim it's they It was so they were getting so frustrated and that you could hear their pain and anguish, please, she's bleeding.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Out, she's bleeding.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: I have chills from head to toe because look, I'm looking at the transcript. We're far off the trail. We're off of a little launch area by the river.
00:07:22
Speaker 2: We need help.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: Now.
00:07:24
Speaker 3: You may see a helicopter. If you see it, try to flag it down. I mean they were trying to find them, and because they were off the path, that's no easy task.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: In dense, thick woods leading into a.
00:07:38
Speaker 1: River, it sounds almost impossible. There are times everybody's had this experience. I'm trying to find somebody in a crowd. Where are you? You see the big yellow sign and just trying to describe. They're describing stuff in place they never been. There's a tree here, there's a marker here, there's as they don't have that part of it is anguish because I don't know robes if she had had more time, was it possible given a bit the description of the injury sounds damn.
00:08:05
Speaker 3: But she bled out and look, I'm sure, Look this isn't You're not when you're hiking and you just think you're off for a little hiking. You might bring some water, you might bring some snacks and a phone, but you're not.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: Thinking of a tourniquet kit.
00:08:17
Speaker 3: But short of having a tourniquet, and I don't know at what point the arm, but you know, could that could that have saved her life? I would probably say yes. Was time running against her absolutely, If she could have gotten emergency help immediately, her life almost certainly could have been saved. Her arm obviously one of them was gone, and one of them was basically not there anymore, is.
00:08:39
Speaker 2: How it was described.
00:08:41
Speaker 3: I mean, that's a horrific scene. I cannot imagine. I actually feel physically ill because the panic you would feel, the helplessness you would feel.
00:08:50
Speaker 2: There's nothing they could do to help their friend, and.
00:08:54
Speaker 1: That's their boyfriend there, and you hear in the background at some point he's saying survive Robes. This is that That call is uh, yeah, that call is. It takes you into a horror in a way that I don't know why I kept listening it is. It's awful, awful, awful to hear. And her friend is voice. Her friend is the one talking most of the time on to the nine one one operator. Jesus Crime Andy So Robes. Yes, they are. They are a part of the habitat. They are part of Florida. They are I mean, they're part of the identity of Florida. And some would say a welcome part, like a celebrated part even of Florida.
00:09:32
Speaker 3: But floridagators to the University of Florida, gators, it's their mascot. This state is known for sunshine, for oranges, and for alligators. And look, this wasn't just any alligator you talked about the maybe the weaker alligators going away from maybe what would be considered more of their natural habitat. The alligators they trapped, they didn't know which one it was, but they found two, a thirteen footer and a twelve footer. Those are almost double the size of what a lot of folks encounter. Those were massive giant alligators.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: They're almost records setting alligators for the state of Florida. They keep records number. We're going to give you the actual record number down in a little bit, but they have them separated robes in between men, the male alligators and the female, and they have records of the longest males ever found and the longest females. These two would set a record for the biggest female ever found. Wow, by a.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: Couple of feet, and that just shows you what she was up against.
00:10:37
Speaker 1: By a couple of feet. These are almost records setting size alligators that they were up against. So that's just horrific to hear. So they did find both of those they killed them, but now they're testing to see which one of these was the actual aggressor. It might I guess it's possibly it wasn't either one of them.
00:10:55
Speaker 3: But they said that they were both found very close to the area where the attack happens.
00:10:59
Speaker 2: So yeah, they do need to determine it.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: And the reason why they're doing that is, yes, they need to find out if there is another killer alligator out there that needs to be found. Still, if neither one of those two were responsible for the attack.
00:11:12
Speaker 1: So this started the road to go back to June twenty first, that's when the first of the three attacks, and they a week of attacks started, and that's with the Snorkeler Rainbow River. I'm not sure of it. I don't not familiar with it, but people obviously go there. They snorkel Marion County, central part of the state as well. Didn't see the condition on the snorkeld, No.
00:11:31
Speaker 3: I just saw that it was a nineteen year old man who was injured, was attacked, was bitten, that's how they put it. While he was snorkeling with friends in this river. And this river is they allowed the snorkeling, so they ended up closing the river until.
00:11:47
Speaker 2: They found the alligator.
00:11:48
Speaker 3: They did find the alligator and terminated that alligator as well, and then what just a few days later, This was the day before the fatal attack. Correct on Saturday, over the weekend, a boy was bitten while he was fishing. And just to give you an idea, just to hear that, they caught a twelve and a thirteen footer. When it came to the thirty one year old woman's attack, the one that bit the boy was eight eight seven, so almost a nine foot alligator, which is still a big boy roads.
00:12:17
Speaker 1: That thing is four or five feet smaller than the one that attacked the woman rose. That is what this is. It is hard to imagine a thirteen foot something coming at you. This is a prehistoric beast that has done nothing for millions of years but run around and eat, and it survives some kind of way.
00:12:43
Speaker 3: It does look prehistoric. We were looking at that file footage basically of these alligators, and I think crocodiles are even scarier, by the way, but they do look prehistoric. You're like, that's a dinosaur walking around and if you're in the state of Florida, to think that they are everywhere and you're seeing the aggressiveness happen during this period of time when it's mating season, and yeah, that would keep me.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: And look, the temperatures.
00:13:07
Speaker 3: Are hot, people are looking for water, and so this is just an awful confluence of weather and mating season and folks being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: Well, we'll stay here. We will tell you what was the largest alligator ever found on record in the state of Florida. And we did mention that, yes, right now, it's mating season, but when it ends, there's another dangerous alligator season set to begin.
00:13:33
Speaker 3: Stay here, Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we are talking about a really disturbing series of events that have happened in a period of one week.
00:13:52
Speaker 2: Three gator attacks.
00:13:54
Speaker 3: One of them proved fatal, the other two landed both of its victims in the hospital. This is some scary stuff and we're getting very dire warnings from Florida officials to be aware of what.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: Season it is.
00:14:08
Speaker 3: And actually, when I was googling this, when we were looking up the story, you can go back to April and Florida officials start putting out alerts and this is an annual thing, saying watch out coming up in May, it's mating season and from May to June, you need to be on the lookout for alligators and assume that they are in any and every body of water you encounter.
00:14:30
Speaker 1: Rose But they part of them putting those warnings out is, yeah, a bunch of college kids run around spring break. People on vacation, they come down there and they don't know trying to give you a heads up about any body of water. Well, we talked about the visitors. There's another quote I used, the one from the sheriff earlier. But this is one I just saw in a random article after the one about the boy being bitten. And this was a resident just understanding, hey, this is what happens if it's wet and there's water, it's got gators in it right now, That's how she described.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: Yea, and you know what, they also say, we've heard of these attacks because a lot of people and Florida residents included, kind of get that. Certainly, US tourists might not be thinking about that. When we see water in Florida, we think relief from the heat. But if you've got a pet, that is where I have seen certainly so many awful attacks because the owners are trying to protect their animals, and if you have a dog, they say keep those animals on a leash far away from the water because that they they look like what alligators go.
00:15:32
Speaker 2: After when they're looking for a food source.
00:15:34
Speaker 3: So your pet is literally like you have a fishing rod with a bait on it, and you're if you're going to go after your animal, which most dog owners would just be prepared for what you're about to encounter because that's what they're like.
00:15:50
Speaker 2: Imagine your dog on the end.
00:15:52
Speaker 3: Of a fishing rod, because that's basically what's happening when you walk by a body of water with alligators potentially in it.
00:15:58
Speaker 1: That's correct. Crazy way to say that, like you're dangling, yes, bait on the end of.
00:16:03
Speaker 3: Correct and you might end up being the final meal. And that has absolutely happened multiple times.
00:16:09
Speaker 1: You know. Are the numbers there, they've been keeping up ropes since nineteen forty eight, Florida Wildlife officials about five hundred encounters alligator encounters in that time is nineteen forty eight. Well, we do the math there, that's seventy years seventy well, eighty years, right, it's almost eighty years now. So you're still not even in double digits averaging per year less than but still if you get a couple, scared the hell lot of you to make headlines. But of those thirty two before this were fatal thirty two and since nineteen forty eight, so and.
00:16:44
Speaker 2: So to have three in one week is significant attacks.
00:16:46
Speaker 1: In one week, we'll get attention and make headlines for sure. Robes the mating season we're talking about. You see this as well right now with the fellas that are the problem, right, the males are in mating seasons, so they're running around ressive after this.
00:17:01
Speaker 3: With females protecting their nests, they get aggressive, Yes, because now after the mating season, Yes, there are going to be baby alligators that need protecting and eggs to be protected. And so now you've got mama bear. And that's always what they tell you to worry about when it comes to bears, is a mama bear protecting her cups. Same is true for alligators. And so yeah, you've got to work. And that season runs through.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: The fall, correct, Yeah, it starts immediately after this when it goes several months. Yeah, I think or whatever it may be. Hell, all seasons. Every day is alligator season to me and Florida.
00:17:34
Speaker 2: That's how I'm looking at it.
00:17:35
Speaker 1: Roll So every day. This is incredible to hear some of them describe just like any body of water, expect an alligator to pop out of it. I didn't know that. I've felt like I'm safe in some areas. I guess the guy down in Port of Our Arcta. This is making headlines as well because of that attack.
00:17:51
Speaker 3: Yes, the crocodile who and look, there have been differing accounts because I was trying to go back and forth because I thought was he swimming?
00:17:57
Speaker 2: Was he not swimming?
00:17:58
Speaker 3: ABC News was reporting he was on the beach different and it came out and dragged him. If that's the case, that's beyond frightening. Being in the water is one thing I think maybe everyone knows if you're in a body of water, you might not always know what's swimming around you. But if you're standing on a beach, that is completely unexpected.
00:18:17
Speaker 2: So I mean, look, and crocodiles are known typically.
00:18:20
Speaker 3: To be more aggressive than alligators, but look, three in one week, one of them fatal. This is something absolutely everyone needs to be aware of, and I think it's important. It's not just about scaring the Bejesus out of everybody. There are a.
00:18:33
Speaker 2: Lot of people who travel to Florida. Tourism is one.
00:18:38
Speaker 3: Of their biggest, if not the biggest.
00:18:41
Speaker 2: Source of industry for that state.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: So for all of us coming down to visit Florida, it's something to keep in mind. This is a story and these headlines should remind all of us to keep our guard up.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: This was and I don't know if we know it ro but the woman the attack was near Orlando wasn't too far outside of Orlando, which obviously is where a lot of people go this time of year. I had them, I mean I looked at the numbers robes. The largest on record down there that they've ever found fourteen feet three and a half inches twenty ten.
00:19:12
Speaker 3: So if this woman had a thirteen foot or after her, you'd, like you pointed out, that is nearly record setting gropes.
00:19:18
Speaker 1: A fourteen for three and a half inch, and now we hear that as a record ropes, what is happening thirteen? So those that would help the woman, Both of those would qualify as the one of one of the largest female if they're females. There are the two record breaking females. They're probably not just giving their but.
00:19:36
Speaker 3: Even among men or male sorry men, even among male alligators, they would be big boys.
00:19:42
Speaker 1: They so wrote, I'm waiting to hear their aunts because you might have a record setting alligator that was just found and just possibly killed a woman there in Florida. So or it's it's worth noting, but a tragedy down there. But is more happening beyond a couple of isolated incidents rope that happened in a cluster, or is something more happening this season that we need to pay attention to.
00:20:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we will certainly hope that officials can give us those answers, and anyone who is in that state, especially in the central part of Florida, certainly I think is going to heed these warnings now that these headlines.
00:20:17
Speaker 2: Are out there.
00:20:18
Speaker 3: We always appreciate you listening to us, every one. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.
00:20:22
Speaker 2: Holmes. We will talk to you very soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, theo folks. It is Tuesday, June thirtieth, and three three alligator attacks in one week in central Florida. One of them was deadly and it is horrific. With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. Horrific if we just heard it described to us by police Robes. We have a ten plus minute nine to one one call that goes through and in which we are taken into what is a horrific scene of a woman who's been attacked by an alligator and she has two friends one or boyfriend another friend Robes who are desperately trying to get her help. We've heard a lot of ninem on one calls in our Lives, Robes. This one was gutting.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: It really was.
00:00:53
Speaker 3: And just to see the transcript, you listened to the entire nine one one call. I just read the tree ranscript of it, and I heard that they were describing screaming, just absolute sheer terror as this boyfriend and the best friend of this thirty one year old woman are desperately trying to save her life.
00:01:14
Speaker 1: So this is happening now at a time, and again it's Florida. We all generally have an idea. They're alligators in Florida. But for those of us that don't live their robes, we don't keep in mind every year that this is the time of year, rodes. I didn't. I don't. It doesn't register to me that we're sitting in the middle of alligator mating season and that's a dangerous time.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the height of mating season.
00:01:39
Speaker 3: They say, it's May and June, and that is when the males typically are the most aggressive because yes, they are looking for mates. So it's basically male dominant alligators in heat and you do not want to get in their way.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: And another part of that robes is that they're branching out. So what they're doing is they're not staying in maybe the swamps, so the everglades of other places that you know, people might sometimes even go to try to spot them, and they have tours and things for this, don't they.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: I've been on one before in the Everglades.
00:02:12
Speaker 1: See they have that. That's one thing, bro. But what we're talking about they leave those spots. I've never understood this. I never knew this. But the weaker males can't hold their territory against the big.
00:02:23
Speaker 2: Dogs that makes sense.
00:02:24
Speaker 1: So they have to start finding other territory to start possibly finding mates. So what do they do. They go into areas robes where they don't usually go. And that is why they say, we see more and more of these robes. I just we are not living in Florida. I hear about it and do it. It's something about it every once in a while. But robe, this is prime time for danger season in Florida.
00:02:46
Speaker 3: And to think that three attacks happened in one week, this was all.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: They were all in the central Florida area.
00:02:53
Speaker 3: But look, you had a thirty one year old woman who was viciously killed, a nineteen year old attacked while scuba diving, and a child a juvenile male is how they've described.
00:03:03
Speaker 2: And we don't know his exact age.
00:03:05
Speaker 3: But he was just fishing along a river with his family. And so, yes, things that you wouldn't necessarily when you're snorkeling. I don't know, are you thinking about alligators again?
00:03:17
Speaker 1: Where the area?
00:03:17
Speaker 3: You know? What?
00:03:18
Speaker 1: In that one we'll get to. Wasn't that? No they closed it afterwards, No, no, no, snorkeling is okay there, but they did close it afterwards. Caught that gator. So it is back open. No, my thought was, wait, was he supposed to be there? Yeah, it was.
00:03:30
Speaker 3: And to think that the snorkling was open, the river was open, that would make me even think less about worrying about an alligator. I know, when you're in the ocean, you're kind of aware that you've got predators out there. But yes, in Florida, I understand, if there's a body of water, there's a chance that there could be an alligator. But it's not top of mind for most folks. And if you were a resident there, I'm sure you hear about it on the news, and certainly this is a warning that comes every year, but there are a lot of visitors and tourists and folks.
00:03:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, no idea to.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: Even be on the lookout for.
00:04:02
Speaker 3: So when I'm hiking or snorkeling or fishing, am I thinking about an alligator coming up and attacking me?
00:04:10
Speaker 1: The way the sheriff out there put it, robes quote, every body of water could potentially have an alligator in it. He's talking about the state of Florida. That's frightening, he says, that's just it's the time of year. We get it. We live down here. We understand every body of water is potentially one that has an alligator in.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: Every lake, every pond, every river.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: Keep doing everything you can come up with. Anything that has water its possibly has an alligator in it. Let's start with his most latest incident, Robes. We're talking about the thirty one year old. This was the latest of the three attacks. This was the deadly one. And look, we'll tell you now we did consider but we're not going to play any of the nine to one one goal. It's a little difficult to hear, and it is well, it's difficult to hear robes just because of the audio and trying to make out what they're saying. But it's just difficult to hear as well. So we're not going to play that. But to give you an idea of what we're talking about. Ropes, they were. I heard a couple of different reports here they were. They actually did stop to swim, but he described the boyfriend that she was just kneeling at the time, so correctly. So let's start with this incident first.
00:05:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, so she is.
00:05:16
Speaker 3: On a hike with her boyfriend and her best friend and yeah, it's hot. It's hot everywhere, but it's definitely hot in Florida. So, yes, they come up on a body of water and want to cool off, and so they went for a swim. But at the time of the attack, according to her best friend and her boyfriend, she was kneeling in about three inches.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Of water when the gator attacked.
00:05:39
Speaker 3: And just went straight for her arm.
00:05:44
Speaker 1: So they now robes at this point start to describe a pretty horrific scene that we actually here described in this nine to one to one audio in which they say, this alligator grabbed this one and by both arms and essentially ripped both off. One was taken completely off, the other as reported in the nine to one one call as it was happening. So I'm listening to the voice robes of a woman who was looking at her friend with one arm missing and the other barely hanging on. And this, I'll give you this quote at least told the nine one one operator quote, both arms are off, like basically nine one one operator asked, do you know where the other arm is? She replies, gone gone. So this alligator they did report it in this number one call as it was happening, that the alligator had taken off it was gone at the point, but robes this is at the I don't know, a little big Econ State Force is the place where people go camp, canoe, hike robes. The tough part of the call they couldn't describe their location.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: Because they were far off the trail, because.
00:06:58
Speaker 1: You can't just say I'm corner of Johnson Street and tim it's they It was so they were getting so frustrated and that you could hear their pain and anguish, please, she's bleeding.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Out, she's bleeding.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: I have chills from head to toe because look, I'm looking at the transcript. We're far off the trail. We're off of a little launch area by the river.
00:07:22
Speaker 2: We need help.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: Now.
00:07:24
Speaker 3: You may see a helicopter. If you see it, try to flag it down. I mean they were trying to find them, and because they were off the path, that's no easy task.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: In dense, thick woods leading into a.
00:07:38
Speaker 1: River, it sounds almost impossible. There are times everybody's had this experience. I'm trying to find somebody in a crowd. Where are you? You see the big yellow sign and just trying to describe. They're describing stuff in place they never been. There's a tree here, there's a marker here, there's as they don't have that part of it is anguish because I don't know robes if she had had more time, was it possible given a bit the description of the injury sounds damn.
00:08:05
Speaker 3: But she bled out and look, I'm sure, Look this isn't You're not when you're hiking and you just think you're off for a little hiking. You might bring some water, you might bring some snacks and a phone, but you're not.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: Thinking of a tourniquet kit.
00:08:17
Speaker 3: But short of having a tourniquet, and I don't know at what point the arm, but you know, could that could that have saved her life? I would probably say yes. Was time running against her absolutely, If she could have gotten emergency help immediately, her life almost certainly could have been saved. Her arm obviously one of them was gone, and one of them was basically not there anymore, is.
00:08:39
Speaker 2: How it was described.
00:08:41
Speaker 3: I mean, that's a horrific scene. I cannot imagine. I actually feel physically ill because the panic you would feel, the helplessness you would feel.
00:08:50
Speaker 2: There's nothing they could do to help their friend, and.
00:08:54
Speaker 1: That's their boyfriend there, and you hear in the background at some point he's saying survive Robes. This is that That call is uh, yeah, that call is. It takes you into a horror in a way that I don't know why I kept listening it is. It's awful, awful, awful to hear. And her friend is voice. Her friend is the one talking most of the time on to the nine one one operator. Jesus Crime Andy So Robes. Yes, they are. They are a part of the habitat. They are part of Florida. They are I mean, they're part of the identity of Florida. And some would say a welcome part, like a celebrated part even of Florida.
00:09:32
Speaker 3: But floridagators to the University of Florida, gators, it's their mascot. This state is known for sunshine, for oranges, and for alligators. And look, this wasn't just any alligator you talked about the maybe the weaker alligators going away from maybe what would be considered more of their natural habitat. The alligators they trapped, they didn't know which one it was, but they found two, a thirteen footer and a twelve footer. Those are almost double the size of what a lot of folks encounter. Those were massive giant alligators.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: They're almost records setting alligators for the state of Florida. They keep records number. We're going to give you the actual record number down in a little bit, but they have them separated robes in between men, the male alligators and the female, and they have records of the longest males ever found and the longest females. These two would set a record for the biggest female ever found. Wow, by a.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: Couple of feet, and that just shows you what she was up against.
00:10:37
Speaker 1: By a couple of feet. These are almost records setting size alligators that they were up against. So that's just horrific to hear. So they did find both of those they killed them, but now they're testing to see which one of these was the actual aggressor. It might I guess it's possibly it wasn't either one of them.
00:10:55
Speaker 3: But they said that they were both found very close to the area where the attack happens.
00:10:59
Speaker 2: So yeah, they do need to determine it.
00:11:01
Speaker 3: And the reason why they're doing that is, yes, they need to find out if there is another killer alligator out there that needs to be found. Still, if neither one of those two were responsible for the attack.
00:11:12
Speaker 1: So this started the road to go back to June twenty first, that's when the first of the three attacks, and they a week of attacks started, and that's with the Snorkeler Rainbow River. I'm not sure of it. I don't not familiar with it, but people obviously go there. They snorkel Marion County, central part of the state as well. Didn't see the condition on the snorkeld, No.
00:11:31
Speaker 3: I just saw that it was a nineteen year old man who was injured, was attacked, was bitten, that's how they put it. While he was snorkeling with friends in this river. And this river is they allowed the snorkeling, so they ended up closing the river until.
00:11:47
Speaker 2: They found the alligator.
00:11:48
Speaker 3: They did find the alligator and terminated that alligator as well, and then what just a few days later, This was the day before the fatal attack. Correct on Saturday, over the weekend, a boy was bitten while he was fishing. And just to give you an idea, just to hear that, they caught a twelve and a thirteen footer. When it came to the thirty one year old woman's attack, the one that bit the boy was eight eight seven, so almost a nine foot alligator, which is still a big boy roads.
00:12:17
Speaker 1: That thing is four or five feet smaller than the one that attacked the woman rose. That is what this is. It is hard to imagine a thirteen foot something coming at you. This is a prehistoric beast that has done nothing for millions of years but run around and eat, and it survives some kind of way.
00:12:43
Speaker 3: It does look prehistoric. We were looking at that file footage basically of these alligators, and I think crocodiles are even scarier, by the way, but they do look prehistoric. You're like, that's a dinosaur walking around and if you're in the state of Florida, to think that they are everywhere and you're seeing the aggressiveness happen during this period of time when it's mating season, and yeah, that would keep me.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: And look, the temperatures.
00:13:07
Speaker 3: Are hot, people are looking for water, and so this is just an awful confluence of weather and mating season and folks being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: Well, we'll stay here. We will tell you what was the largest alligator ever found on record in the state of Florida. And we did mention that, yes, right now, it's mating season, but when it ends, there's another dangerous alligator season set to begin.
00:13:33
Speaker 3: Stay here, Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ, where we are talking about a really disturbing series of events that have happened in a period of one week.
00:13:52
Speaker 2: Three gator attacks.
00:13:54
Speaker 3: One of them proved fatal, the other two landed both of its victims in the hospital. This is some scary stuff and we're getting very dire warnings from Florida officials to be aware of what.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: Season it is.
00:14:08
Speaker 3: And actually, when I was googling this, when we were looking up the story, you can go back to April and Florida officials start putting out alerts and this is an annual thing, saying watch out coming up in May, it's mating season and from May to June, you need to be on the lookout for alligators and assume that they are in any and every body of water you encounter.
00:14:30
Speaker 1: Rose But they part of them putting those warnings out is, yeah, a bunch of college kids run around spring break. People on vacation, they come down there and they don't know trying to give you a heads up about any body of water. Well, we talked about the visitors. There's another quote I used, the one from the sheriff earlier. But this is one I just saw in a random article after the one about the boy being bitten. And this was a resident just understanding, hey, this is what happens if it's wet and there's water, it's got gators in it right now, That's how she described.
00:15:00
Speaker 3: Yea, and you know what, they also say, we've heard of these attacks because a lot of people and Florida residents included, kind of get that. Certainly, US tourists might not be thinking about that. When we see water in Florida, we think relief from the heat. But if you've got a pet, that is where I have seen certainly so many awful attacks because the owners are trying to protect their animals, and if you have a dog, they say keep those animals on a leash far away from the water because that they they look like what alligators go.
00:15:32
Speaker 2: After when they're looking for a food source.
00:15:34
Speaker 3: So your pet is literally like you have a fishing rod with a bait on it, and you're if you're going to go after your animal, which most dog owners would just be prepared for what you're about to encounter because that's what they're like.
00:15:50
Speaker 2: Imagine your dog on the end.
00:15:52
Speaker 3: Of a fishing rod, because that's basically what's happening when you walk by a body of water with alligators potentially in it.
00:15:58
Speaker 1: That's correct. Crazy way to say that, like you're dangling, yes, bait on the end of.
00:16:03
Speaker 3: Correct and you might end up being the final meal. And that has absolutely happened multiple times.
00:16:09
Speaker 1: You know. Are the numbers there, they've been keeping up ropes since nineteen forty eight, Florida Wildlife officials about five hundred encounters alligator encounters in that time is nineteen forty eight. Well, we do the math there, that's seventy years seventy well, eighty years, right, it's almost eighty years now. So you're still not even in double digits averaging per year less than but still if you get a couple, scared the hell lot of you to make headlines. But of those thirty two before this were fatal thirty two and since nineteen forty eight, so and.
00:16:44
Speaker 2: So to have three in one week is significant attacks.
00:16:46
Speaker 1: In one week, we'll get attention and make headlines for sure. Robes the mating season we're talking about. You see this as well right now with the fellas that are the problem, right, the males are in mating seasons, so they're running around ressive after this.
00:17:01
Speaker 3: With females protecting their nests, they get aggressive, Yes, because now after the mating season, Yes, there are going to be baby alligators that need protecting and eggs to be protected. And so now you've got mama bear. And that's always what they tell you to worry about when it comes to bears, is a mama bear protecting her cups. Same is true for alligators. And so yeah, you've got to work. And that season runs through.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: The fall, correct, Yeah, it starts immediately after this when it goes several months. Yeah, I think or whatever it may be. Hell, all seasons. Every day is alligator season to me and Florida.
00:17:34
Speaker 2: That's how I'm looking at it.
00:17:35
Speaker 1: Roll So every day. This is incredible to hear some of them describe just like any body of water, expect an alligator to pop out of it. I didn't know that. I've felt like I'm safe in some areas. I guess the guy down in Port of Our Arcta. This is making headlines as well because of that attack.
00:17:51
Speaker 3: Yes, the crocodile who and look, there have been differing accounts because I was trying to go back and forth because I thought was he swimming?
00:17:57
Speaker 2: Was he not swimming?
00:17:58
Speaker 3: ABC News was reporting he was on the beach different and it came out and dragged him. If that's the case, that's beyond frightening. Being in the water is one thing I think maybe everyone knows if you're in a body of water, you might not always know what's swimming around you. But if you're standing on a beach, that is completely unexpected.
00:18:17
Speaker 2: So I mean, look, and crocodiles are known typically.
00:18:20
Speaker 3: To be more aggressive than alligators, but look, three in one week, one of them fatal. This is something absolutely everyone needs to be aware of, and I think it's important. It's not just about scaring the Bejesus out of everybody. There are a.
00:18:33
Speaker 2: Lot of people who travel to Florida. Tourism is one.
00:18:38
Speaker 3: Of their biggest, if not the biggest.
00:18:41
Speaker 2: Source of industry for that state.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: So for all of us coming down to visit Florida, it's something to keep in mind. This is a story and these headlines should remind all of us to keep our guard up.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: This was and I don't know if we know it ro but the woman the attack was near Orlando wasn't too far outside of Orlando, which obviously is where a lot of people go this time of year. I had them, I mean I looked at the numbers robes. The largest on record down there that they've ever found fourteen feet three and a half inches twenty ten.
00:19:12
Speaker 3: So if this woman had a thirteen foot or after her, you'd, like you pointed out, that is nearly record setting gropes.
00:19:18
Speaker 1: A fourteen for three and a half inch, and now we hear that as a record ropes, what is happening thirteen? So those that would help the woman, Both of those would qualify as the one of one of the largest female if they're females. There are the two record breaking females. They're probably not just giving their but.
00:19:36
Speaker 3: Even among men or male sorry men, even among male alligators, they would be big boys.
00:19:42
Speaker 1: They so wrote, I'm waiting to hear their aunts because you might have a record setting alligator that was just found and just possibly killed a woman there in Florida. So or it's it's worth noting, but a tragedy down there. But is more happening beyond a couple of isolated incidents rope that happened in a cluster, or is something more happening this season that we need to pay attention to.
00:20:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we will certainly hope that officials can give us those answers, and anyone who is in that state, especially in the central part of Florida, certainly I think is going to heed these warnings now that these headlines.
00:20:17
Speaker 2: Are out there.
00:20:18
Speaker 3: We always appreciate you listening to us, every one. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ.
00:20:22
Speaker 2: Holmes. We will talk to you very soon.