Overview
- The attack occurred on Saturday, Aug. 8, when a large alligator grabbed 58-year-old Dina Rae Spann as she floated on a paddleboard and pulled her beneath the surface, leaving catastrophic injuries that led to the amputation of her right arm below the elbow and the loss of part of a left finger.
- Nearby boaters and paddleboarders including John Gamache and his father and boater Mike Head rushed to help, using an improvised rope tourniquet and taking the injured woman to shore before emergency responders transported her to a hospital; her family says she has been discharged home to recover.
- Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and a contracted nuisance-alligator trapper located and removed a 9-foot-8-inch alligator on Aug. 9, and Marion County lifted a temporary closure of the Silver River after the animal was removed.
- Spann’s son and other local voices have blamed tourists and social-media users for feeding or approaching alligators and making the animals bolder, a claim reported by outlets but not established as the cause of this attack by wildlife authorities.
- The attack adds to a recent cluster of summer incidents in Florida, including a late-June fatal attack and a child’s injury, and highlights how the FWC’s nuisance-alligator program, public reporting and local rules against feeding wildlife shape short-term responses and longer policy debates.