US-ENVIRONMENT-SNAKES-FLORIDA-OFFBEAT
An American alligator sits in a canal at Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 27, 2019. - Along with the venomous lionfish, the Burmese python is perhaps the least welcome invasive species in Florida: lacking any natural predators, it has happily chomped its way through the state's wildlife. Native to Southeast Asia, the Burmese pythons have become a plague in Florida. Alligators are one of many native species whose food source has been affected by the invasion of nonnative species, like the Burmese Python, to the Everglades. Photo by RHONA WISE / AFP Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images

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.

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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Written By: Jess Smith

WATCH: Alligator swims toward woman, tries to bite paddleboard at Central Florida park-FOX 35 Orlando