In the quiet wetlands of Weeki Wachee Preserve, where warning signs stand as quiet contracts between human visitors and wild inhabitants, a child crossed into forbidden water and met the ancient logic of a predator. A large alligator bit the child on a Monday afternoon in Hernando County, Florida, inflicting puncture wounds before leaving the group stranded on a sandbar until rescue teams arrived by airboat. The child survived and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries — a fortunate outcome in a state where 1.3 million alligators share the landscape with those who do not always he
Child bitten by 9-12 foot alligator in off-limits Florida preserve zone
A child was bitten by an alligator, suffering puncture wounds to the arm and leg, and required hospitalization, though injuries were not life-threatening.