Florida man recalls vicious attack by 9-foot alligator lurking right outside his front door
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORDIA: A Florida man was reportedly critically injured after a vicious alligator lunged at him and bit him in the thigh outside his family's Daytona Beach home, police said. Scott Hollingsworth encountered the reptile when he opened the front door of his home in the 1100 block of Champions Drive in Daytona Beach shortly after 9.30 pm Saturday, March 4.
Daytona Beach police reported that Hollingsworth had heard a noise and thought it might be someone looking for his son. As soon as the resident opened the door, the alligator lunged at the man and bit him on the upper thigh. "Went outside and didn't turn the light on and just got a step outside and something grabbed me on the leg started shaking violently," Hollingsworth told WESH.com.
READ MORE
Scott Hollingsworth thought it was a dog
Hollingsworth initially thought he was bitten by a dog but it turned out to be a seven feet alligator. "Six feet or seven feet," he added. "I really didn't get a good look at it. When I saw what it was, I stepped back into the house and closed the door. Looked down and I had a large gash on the side of my leg. I was trying to put pressure on it." Hollingsworth sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to the local hospital, where he had to get surgery on his leg.
"Fortunately, there's no damage to my knee, which I was concerned about," Hollingsworth said. "Everything's going well." He also revealed that the wildlife officials informed his family that the alligator was close to 9 feet. He said they had seen alligators in the pond behind their house before, but never on their front steps. The alligator was eventually euthanized when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) arrived on scene.
Similar incidents in past
This horrific incident came just two weeks after an 85-year-old Florida woman was killed when an alligator attacked her and dragged her into a retention pond. Gloria Serge was walking her dog on February 20 when the reptile attacked her near the Spanish Lakes Fairways retirement home in Fort Pierce which is 68 miles north of West Palm Beach. Serge tried to save her pet dog as the alligator, which is thought to weigh between 600 and 700 pounds, tried to chomp down on it.
Once the witnesses called 911 and reported the incident, the St Lucie County Sheriff's office and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) arrived at the scene. The alligator responsible for Gloria’s death was immediately captured and euthanized by the authorities while the other three have been removed.