Alligator Kills Florida Woman’s Dog

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A Florida woman is mourning the loss of her 1-year-old Jack Russell terrier after a fatal encounter with an alligator at Pinellas County’s Joe’s Creek Greenway Park.

Sue Fortenbery, her grandson and her four dogs went to the park in the Lealman area on Sunday evening to take a walk and play fetch, several media outlets have reported. At some point, “Bolt” managed to spot a rabbit and slipped his collar. As dogs are inclined to do, Bolt reportedly chased the critter through a hole in a fence and into water.

It was right after that, Fortenbery said her grandson started screaming that a gator had the small dog. Bolt, too, began yelping.

“I can’t stop hearing that scream and then the yelping from my dog,” ABC quoted Fortenbery as saying.

Fortenbery, 62, was unable to recover Bolt’s body, WTSP reported.

While Fortenbery would like to see the alligator responsible for the attack removed from the park, Pinellas County Parks and Recreation Department officials say it’s not so simple.

“When this incident was originally reported to Pinellas County park staff, no description of the alligator was provided,” the department said in a statement sent to Patch. “Without a description or other observed nuisance behavior by an alligator, the county does not have enough information to give to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to identify the alligator for removal.”

The county, however, promises its staff will closely monitor the 4303 466th Ave. N. park for alligators that exhibit nuisance behavior.

See also:

• Boy’s Body Recovered After Disney Gator Attack
• Disney Installing Alligator Warning Signs
• Advice For Living With Florida Alligators

As for the hole in the fence Bolt was able to slide under in his pursuit of the rabbit, the county explained: “The fence around Joe’s Creek Greenway Park is built to a uniform height, but variation in the landscape, including erosion, make gaps along the bottom of the fence possible.”

Alligators, the county said, are a common sight at Joe’s Creek, along with many other types of wildlife. The county does have signs posted “indicating the presence of alligators and other wildlife at the entrance to the park.”

Bolt’s death, unfortunately, isn’t the only fatal alligator attack in Florida this summer. Back in June, a 2-year-old boy was killed by an alligator while visiting the Walt Disney resort area.

The little boy had his feet in the water at Disney’s Seven Seas Lagoon when an alligator reportedly came up and snatched him. His father attempted to rescue his son, but he was unsuccessful, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

With an estimated 1.3 million alligators spread across the Sunshine State, there are things residents and visitors alike need to know to stay safe around alligators and prevent potential tragedies, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say.

“You are likely to find alligators in almost every body of freshwater in the state at some time or another,” said Gary Morse, FWC spokesman. “Alligators also frequent brackish waters and are sometimes found in saltwater where they will remain for short periods.”

The first rule of living with gators or visiting a state where they are so abundant, Morse said, is to “never approach an alligator – appreciate it from a safe distance.”

While alligator encounters can happen any time of the year in Florida, the critters are more active during hotter periods.

Despite the state’s bustling alligator population, serious attacks and fatalities are not common in Florida. Between 1948 and 2013, there were 22 fatalities recorded, according to FWC records. During that period, a total of 122 minor bites and 235 major bites were also logged. The last fatal alligator attack on record prior to this year occurred in 2007.

Alligator-related human fatalities might not be common, but encounters with the creatures are. Those encounters add up to so many over the course of any given year that the state has set up its own hotline to accept nuisance alligator calls. That number is 1-866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).

The state received 13,962 calls about nuisance alligators in 2015. A total of 7,513 alligators were removed as a result of those calls.

Photo courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission