Florida man, 72, loses leg in attack by massive alligator

A 72-year-old Florida man lost his right leg below the knee in a horrific attack by a massive alligator, which was later seen with a human foot protruding from its mouth.

The unidentified man was mauled at about 2 p.m. Friday at the Great Outdoors RV and Golf Resort in Titusville, WESH reported, citing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

He was airlifted to the Holmes Regional Medical Center down in Melbourne, where his condition wasn’t immediately available.

After the gruesome attack, Florida Fish and Wildlife officials and Brevard County sheriff’s deputies tracked down a pair of gators in a canal near the site of the incident.

Suddenly, one of the beasts emerged from the water with a human foot clearly protruding from the end of its mouth, according to WESH.

The officers opened fire at the animal and the other alligator nearby, filling the water with blood. They then retrieved the amputated limb from the giant reptile’s carcass.

“They did get the leg. It was with the gator that they know bit him. So they’ve got both gators that were in that pond which they have to do, unfortunately. It’s what has to be done,” Sharon Maloney, a former paramedic who lives in the sprawling community, told WESH.

“I just heard that he did have a tourniquet applied, so that’s a good thing. I heard that he was alert when he went to the hospital,” she added.

Another resident, Ron Peoples, told the outlet that the alligators are hungry and that it’s mating season.

“It’s a pretty volatile combination when you put them together. We’re finding them in people’s garages under the cars, because they’re going from lake to lake. They’re looking for love,” Peoples told WESH.

“They basically live here like we do. We just have to be respectful of them and cautious,” he added.

Brandon Fisher, a spokesman for Gatorland, told WSVN: “Hopefully nobody was feeding this alligator in this RV park, but if that were the case, and that alligator has lost its fear of humans, it’s gonna come closer — and whether you have the food or don’t have the food that day, that could be the difference between what might have happened.”

He cautioned people to never turn their backs on the animals, but to back away from them as fast as possible.

Fisher offered advice about what to do it attacked.

“They have some sensitive spots on the body, some nerve endings,” he said. “Right at the very tip of the nose is a bunch of nerve endings on the nostrils, but the head is all bone.”