A peaceful day on the water turned deadly Tuesday when an alligator attacked and killed a woman canoeing with her husband at Lake Kissimmee State Park in central Florida.
The tragedy unfolded around 4 p.m. near the mouth of Tiger Creek where it flows into Lake Kissimmee. According to radio transmissions from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the woman’s husband desperately tried to fight off the alligator after it grabbed her from their canoe.
“Gator grabbed her out of the canoe. Her husband tried to fight the gator off,” an official reported in radio transmissions. The husband reportedly left his paddle at the spot where he last saw his wife before seeking help.
After receiving the distress call, authorities launched a massive search operation. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office deployed deputies, marine units, and a helicopter to locate the woman. Tragically, the search ended when the helicopter spotted her body floating in the water. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers recovered her remains, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The woman’s identity has not yet been released by officials, and details about the alligator responsible for the attack remain unknown. The FWC has dispatched a nuisance alligator trapper to the area to locate and remove the reptile involved in the incident.
This attack comes just two months after another incident in the same area, when a different kayaker was attacked by an alligator on a canal connecting Tiger Lake and Lake Kissimmee. That victim survived but suffered severe arm injuries.
While there has been some confusion about whether the woman was in a kayak or canoe at the time of the attack, FWC officials have confirmed she was in a canoe when the encounter with the alligator occurred.
Lake Kissimmee spans approximately 35,000 acres across Polk and Osceola counties and is known to have one of the highest concentrations of alligators in Florida. Despite this, wildlife officials emphasize that serious injuries caused by alligators are rare in the state.
The FWC is expected to provide more details during a press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning in Tampa. Officials will likely address questions about the circumstances of the attack and whether the alligator has been located.
For those concerned about alligators in their area, the FWC maintains a Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286.