Florida Female Paddleboarder Survives Possible Alligator Attack Using Her Oar
A large alligator swimming directly towards a woman while she was floating on a paddleboard in the Silver River was witnessed by tourists. A video captured how the female paddleboarder survived the possible attack.
Female Paddleboarder Survives
According to the Associated Press, videos and photos of the possible attack circulated online after a female paddleboarder used her oar to push an alligator attempting to attack her.
On September 8, 60-year-old, Vicki Baker of Ocala, was inches away from the possible danger when an estimated 10-foot or 3-meter reptile, nearly as long as her paddleboard, swam directly to her.
The alligator hisses loudly at her during the incident and at one point it opened its mouth, revealing its large teeth and its powerful jaw as it floated up on the surface.
"What are you doing? Get away from me! Get away from me!" Baker could be heard in the video yelling at the alligator as it swam inches from her paddleboard.
Meanwhile, an employee at Silver Springs State Park could be heard on a speaker nearby advised to back up and suggested to go away considering that she just made the reptile pretty mad.
A week later, during her first extensive interview regarding the incident, Baker said she remained puzzled over the encounter with the reptile.
So far, more than 1 million individuals have seen photos and videos of the paddler's alligator encounter.
READ MORE: 2 Rare Albino Alligators Born at a Florida Zoo
Investigating Possible Alligator Attack
The incident where Baker almost lost her life on the possible attack happened close to the famous Silver Springs in Florida. Some tourists in the area board on glass-bottom boats. They used that idea for tourists to see what's deep within the water.
The area served as a home of alligators, manatees, large turtles and even a colony of monkeys.
Meanwhile, the park enforces a rule that there would be no swimming allowed in the area, but they open the area to paddlers, kayakers and paddle boarders.
Furthermore, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have launched a formal investigation regarding the almost alligator attack. The alligator's behavior was even considered a mystery to experts and state wildlife officials are still deciding this week on what to do with the reptile.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also said that its biologists are currently studying Baker's video to understand the behavior of the alligator.
However, a University of Florida wildlife biologist Sidney Godfrey contracted the study and said that the video from the encounter wasn't enough to draw any conclusions because of its duration that did not last more than 5 minutes.
He said that there is also a possibility that the alligator had previous human interactions that's why it swam directly towards Baker.
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This article is owned by Latin Post
Written By: Jess Smith
WATCH: Alligator swims toward woman, tries to bite paddleboard at Central Florida park-FOX 35 Orlando
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