Overview
- James Grayson McMicken, who was attacked on July 3, survived after an alligator bit his right leg and he freed himself by thrusting his thumb into one eye and repeatedly jabbing the other with his fishing pole.
- He suffered deep bite wounds on both sides of his right leg, received staples and stitches at Cape Coral Hospital, and is now recovering at home and beginning physical therapy.
- After the attack McMicken used his bulldog to help him stand and get back to his house, where his wife cleaned his wounds before family took him to the hospital.
- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has active trapping efforts to find the animal and investigators are treating the episode as part of a short series of recent severe attacks that includes a recent fatal mauling and other serious bites.
- Florida hosts more than a million alligators but fatal attacks are rare, and officials say factors such as low water levels, territorial behavior near the end of mating season, and the limits of relocation shape how they respond to human-gator encounters.