A 13 feet long alligator was spotted in a canal in US’s Florida on Friday with human remains in its mouth following which authorities were compelled to euthanise it. The office of the Pinellas County Sheriff said that the male alligator was killed “humanely” after he was removed from the waters in Largo city. During the operations, the sheriff’s dive team recovered the human remains from the waterway. Deputies refrained from commenting on whether the said alligator had hunted the person whose remains it was carrying in its mouth or not, reported the Guardian.
Florida is the home to around a million of alligators and over the period of the past ten years, it has seen an average of around eight unprovoked alligator bites on people that have left them in dire need of medical attention. As per the online animal encyclopedia named AZ Animals, each year the US encounters an average of around six fatal alligator attacks, the international daily reported.
A resident of Florida, Jamarcus Bullard, while talking to an NBC News affiliate described the spotting of the alligator on Friday afternoon. Elaborating on his experience, Bullard said, “I threw a rock at the gator just to see if it was really a gator and like it pulled the body – like it was holding on to the lower part of the torso and pulled it under the water.” He also told NBC News that he recorded the alligator with his cellphone and provided the footage to authorities.
As per a report of the Guardian, investigators said that an autopsy of the person, whose remains were found in the alligator’s mouth, was being done in order to determine his cause of death.
Officials told the media that the identity of the deceased had not been established so far, as reported by the Guardian.