As the year comes to a close, 2016 saw quite a few alligator attacks in Florida. Some attacks left people maimed, while another attack left a family broken.
Retired Manatee County K-9 fends off gator attack
April 20, 2016
A large gator grabbed Arek, a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, and tried to drag him in the water. Arek bit the gator and got away with only minor injuries. (Summer Smith, staff)
A retired Manatee County K-9 survived an unusual attack Tuesday, one that came from an alligator.
According to Arek's owner, Chris Leister, a 7 to 8-foot gator grabbed Arek and dragged him into the water behind his Palmetto home.
Leister, a St. Pete Police Officer, said Arek bit the gator and got away. The dog survived the attack with no broken bones and only required some stitches.
Lakeland man who lost hand to gator speaks out
May 11, 2016
A Lakeland man whose left hand was recently bitten off by an alligator talked about the horrifying incident for the first time to Bay News 9.
Jesse Kinsinger was having a psychological episode at the time and Lakeland Police were called after he got into an argument with his mother in the parking lot of The Landings apartment complex on May 11.
Even though he had committed no crime, Kinsinger said he got scared once he heard the police were coming and took off into the woods. And during the chase, Kinsinger decided to go into a nearby water where he met his fate.
"His mouth was a 180 degrees wide open," said Kinsinger, 21. "Nothing, but white and tongue and teeth."
Kinsinger was released from Lakeland Regional Health Center after four surgeries that required his left forearm to be amputated at the elbow.
Spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Gary Morse said they captured a 10-foot, 2-inch gator, the night after the attack and a necropsy confirmed it was the same animal involved in the bite.
"I wish they would’ve left him alone," Kinsinger said. "It's the cops' fault that I was in that water, in his environment, not the gator's fault."
Lakeland police identify body in June 7 alligator incident
June 7, 2016
Photo of Richard Taylor courtesy of the Lakeland Police Department.
Human remains have been found in a 9-foot gator captured Tuesday night by a contract trapper with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), confirm Lakeland Police.
Richard Zachary Taylor, 72, was identified by his fingerprints. Lakeland Police believe he had been submerged for at least a day.
The alligator believed to have been seen by Taylor, however, was captured by Florida Fish and Wildlife. The Medical Examiners Officer found human remains inside.
Body of 2-year-old taken by gator at Disney World recovered
June 14, 2016
Orange County Sheriff's Office says Lane Graves was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon by an alligator while he was on the beach at the Grand Floridian with his family. (Orange County Sheriff's Office)
The most horrific on this list of alligator attacks is that of 2-year-old Lane Graves, who died while he was visiting, along with his Nebraska family, Disney World's Seven Seas Lagoon back in June.
When he was playing near the water's edge, an alligator attacked him.
The boy's father tried to save his son but was unsuccessful. Williamson said the father suffered cuts to his arms from struggling with the animal. Several witnesses saw the gator drag the boy under the water, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said at the time.
Four days later, the child's body was found.
In a response to the attacks, Disney put up fences and signs warning people not to go near or in the water.
The following month, an email from Reedy Creek Emergency Services EMS Capt. Tom Wellons was released and in it, Wellons mentioned a conversation he had with Nathan's father, Matt Graves.
The elder Graves described how another alligator attacked him while he tried to save his son from the first gator.
The family eventually announced that they would not sue Disney.
Man attacked by alligator in Sumter County
June 22, 2016
A picture of the gator involved in the attack on a man in Sumter County Tuesday. (Sumter County Sheriff's Office)
A 58-year-old man was airlifted to a hospital after he was attacked by an alligator in Sumter County. The man was attacked by the gator while along County Road 311 in Bushnell.
The 8- to 9-foot gator injured the man's right leg and he was airlifted to Ocala Regional Hospital.
No word on his condition at the time, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife confirms the gator was captured and euthanized.
Woman bitten on arm by alligator in Seminole County
July 8, 2016
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials think a nearly 11-foot alligator bit a woman wading in water in rural Seminole County on Friday, July 8, 2016. (Jeff Allen, staff)
A 40-year-old woman was bitten on the arm by what wildlife officials think was a nearly 11-foot alligator in Seminole County.
The bite occurred at about 2:30 p.m. while the woman was wading in the water in the Little Big Econ River in the Chuluota area of Seminole County, near Oviedo.
The woman was able to free herself from the alligator and was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford for non-life-threatening injuries.
Man hospitalized after alligator attack under US 1
Sept. 19, 2016
Several boats from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission searched Monday, Sept. 19, 2016 for an 8-foot alligator suspected of attacking a man under the U.S. 1 underpass in Melbourne. (News 13)
A Melbourne man was hospitalized after an alligator attacked him near the U.S. 1 underpass not far from downtown Melbourne.
Wildlife officers stated at the time that they were looking for an 8-foot-long alligator that attacked the known homeless man after he went for a swim at the underpass.
Melbourne Police were in the area training at about 9 a.m. when they heard screams. That is when they found the man lying on the shore with deep bite marks on his shoulder and arm.
Five boats from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were out Monday searching for the alligator.
The man who was bit has not been identified. He was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center with severe shoulder wounds, but is believed that he recovered.