Man Bit By Gator While Washing Hands In Sanibel Pond: City

SANIBEL, FL — A man was bitten by a gator while washing his hands in a pond Thursday morning, according to a news release from the city of Sanibel.

Police responded to reports of the bite at a pond near 2477 Periwinkle Way around 11:30 a.m.

The victim was able to free himself from the gator and call 911, the city said.

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Witnesses applied a tourniquet to his right forearm until medical assistance arrived. He was brought to a local hospital by Lee County EMS with a serious injury, according to the city.

Florida Fish and Wildlife contracted a Florida state trapper who tried capturing the gator on Thursday.

Patch has reached out to the city for additional information.

As Florida weather and waters warm up in February and March, gators become more active in the Sunshine State as they search for food, according to the FWC website.

Gators become even more active in April and May, as mating season starts, when the weather is even warmer and pond water levels start to rise.

“They start to spread out and stretch their legs, so to speak, and go from pond to pond. That’s when you get more reports of them crossing golf courses and hopping from pond to pond,” Senior Officer Adam Brown with FWC told Patch.

Female gators tend to build their mound nests in late June or early July and lay between 32 to 46 eggs, the agency said. Incubation of their eggs takes from 6o to 65 days and hatching takes place in late August or early September. Even after the eggs hatch, gators remain territorial over their young.

In colder months, alligators stop feeding when the ambient temperature drops below 70 degrees and become dormant below 55 degrees, the Orlando Sentinel reported.