A woman in Florida has been killed by an alligator while walking her dogs in the such second fatal attack to occur in the state in the past two years.
Shizuka Matsuki, 47, from Plantation, Florida, was killed two days after local residents received an email warning them to "exercise caution" as a 6-foot alligator had been spotted in the area.
It is not known if Matsuki received the email before she took her two dogs for a walk at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park in Davie on June 8, reports theSun Sentinel.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the chances of a Florida resident being injured during an unprovoked attack by an alligator is roughly one in 3.2 million, reports the Associated Press.
The commission said that there were 24 fatal attacks by an alligator between 1948 to 2017, with the last one occurring in 2016 when a two-year-old boy was killed by an alligator while playing at Disney's Seven Seas Lagoon in Orlando, Florida.
Speaking in the wake of the 2016 attack, Jim Darlington, curator of reptiles at St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park in Florida, told CBS News that alligator attacks are "fairly uncommon" and are "usually a case of mistaken identity."
Darlington offered tips on what to do if up against an alligator. Running away is a good option and a distance of around 20 or 30 feet is usually all it takes to get safely away from an alligator. "They are not made for running after prey," he said. Making a lot of noise can also scare off a gator before any attack begins.
Darlington said putting up a fight is your best bet if a gator grabs you. "Your size is what saves you from these things," he said. "They don't like people."
Ron Magill, a wildlife expert and communications director at Zoo Miami, told Good Morning America in 2016 that fighting a gator could save you from serious injury or death.
"The thing you want to stop them from doing is turning. They'll grab, and they'll start rolling to try to break off pieces to eat, and that's the key thing," Magill said. "You've got to hold on as hard as you can. And the other is to try to poke your fingers in their eyes. That's easier said than done in that situation, of course, but that's the best chance you have."
Bob Cooper, an Australian bushcraft expert and instructor in survival skills, also believes that poking the gator in the eyes is one of the best forms of protection. "They have thousands of years of instinct telling them this is the only vulnerable part of their body and they need to let go," he told the BBC.
Among the things you must not do is not put up a fight at all or play dead.
Wildlife expert Corbin Maxey, who owns two alligators, told Business Insider in April 2018: "I think the best thing to do would be to fight back, put up a fight; definitely don't play dead. If you play dead, you might become dead."
Most experts agree the best course of action is to run away from the predator, especially as they usually only attack humans if they approach their territory.
Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife ecology and conservation professor and alligator expert at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, told the Los Angeles Times: "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and that's the fastest. Run away in a straight line. Everything you hear about running in a zigzag line is untrue."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Attempt to gouge, kick, or poke the animal in the eye with your hands or whatever you can grab. Don't give up until you are free, you are literally fighting for your life. Attack the animal's head. If you land as many blows as possible on the animal's head, you stand a higher chance that it will let go.
If attacked and unable to run away, fight back, intensely. It's life or death. Attacking the tip of an alligator's snout or gouging the eyes is your best bet in making it release you. Use a rock, knife, tool, or even your hands if you have to.
Can a human win a fight against an alligator? Yes, but do all you can to avoid them, especially in the water, if you want to survive an alligator attack. They are very good at hunting prey in their environment.
If an alligator bites you, the best thing to do is fight back, providing as much noise and resistance aspossible. Hitting or kicking the alligator or poking it in its eyes may cause it to release its grip. When alligators seize prey they cannot easily overpower, they will often let go and retreat.
Swing your limbs, wriggle your body, and keep moving until they move on. The harder you fight the less interested the alligator will become. Make a lot of noise. Like the thrashing movements, loud sounds also discourage alligators from continuing their attacks.
Hiss: If an alligator hisses, it's warning you that you are too close. Back away slowly. Protect: A female protecting her nest or young may charge if you get too close but will quickly return to the nest after you leave.
One of the stranger suggestions for keeping alligators at bay is to make your own alligator repellant, with one website suggesting a recipe made from ammonia and human urine.
Juveniles: Small alligators are eaten by a variety of predators including raccoons, otters, wading birds, and fish; however, larger alligators may be their most significant predator. Adults: Cannibalism, intraspecific fighting, and hunting by humans are probably the most significant mortality factors.
If you happen to hit one, pull over immediately – but do NOT get out of your car . There's a good chance the gator could be hitching a ride underneath, or it might be hiding, hurt and angry, nearby. An encounter with an injured gator could still be a deadly one. Stay calm and call the authorities .
First up, you should try to run as fast as you can in a straight line. If you do find yourself in a death roll, the Wildlife X Team says "under no circ*mstance try to resist it." They add: "Roll with the alligator as best as you can and maintain the second tip by attempting to gouge the eyes and hit the snout.
You can attack the crocodile/alligator. If they are weakened or severely injured, you can try to hit its head and eyes while it attacks your friend. This way you have a better chance of landing hits, since they are occupied.
But despite their size and strength, there are animals that do prey on them. Man appears to be their biggest predator. Big cats like leopards and panthers sometimes kill and eat these big reptiles. Large snakes can also do a lot of damage to alligators and crocodiles.
If you think an alligator is approaching you, run as fast as you can, in a straight line away from the alligator [source: The University of Florida]. You should be able to easily outrun an alligator. If it seems to be gaining on you, don't panic.
Punch the alligator, poke it in the eyes, hit it in the head. If you've got a hand in its mouth, stick it down in its gullet. Do everything that you can to force the alligator to release you." Even in the water, Mazzotti says that during attacks the alligator will frequently release the victim to reposition them.
If the gator is trying to drag you under the water, “you have to assume at this point you're fighting for your life, and you've got to give it all you've got,” Andrews said. “We recommend trying to poke them in the eye, hitting them in the top part of the skull or the side of the jaw.
The eyes of the crocodilian are its most vulnerable part, and several croc-attack survivors have reported eye-gouging as their salvation. Attempt to gouge, kick, or poke the animal in the eye with your hands or whatever you can grab. Don't give up until you are free, you are literally fighting for your life.
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