Who actually swims in one of these dang canals?? I heard that and thought "where was HE from?"
Poor guy.

Ohio. Went in right at feeding time.

The Fish and Wildlife guy cracked me up. I thought people were done pretending we're not a natural part of a big gator's menu. It's idiotic.

We are all alligator munchies in an alligator's eyes! I guess the Ohio guy had not encountered the reality on the ground. I can't figure out why they are still pushing this idea that alligators don't naturally see humans as prey.

The trapper Tracy Hansen got it figured out pretty quick: "This was an opportunity for the gator and he took it."

You people disgust me. This is a sick, unfair, specist profiling of a member of the crocodilian race. Did anyone actually see this poor alligator kill that man? NOOOO! The alligator probably found the guy and was trying to bring him to somebody that could help! Bah! You're all just a bunch of specist nazis.

/peta moonbat rant off

Oddly enough, that PETA rant makes more sense than the Fish and Wildlife guy's saying he was going to investigate why the gator attacked the man.

Look, to anyone who hasn't had any years in residence with gators (I have, on the other hand, and had many close encounters and otherwise experiences with them, small and very large ones), they only stopped attacking humans ("meat" is right) because we started predating upon them (thus, they'd run/swim fast whenever a human could be seen, heard or felt nearby).

In the last decades, that the alligator has become a protected species, they've lost recognition of us humans as predators and now regard us as meat and meat alone. If we're catchable, they'll try and catch us.

I've had more than enough near-misses with very large alligators than I care to remember tonight from the safety of my office desk, but, allow me to say I've barely escaped a few of the very large ones like this six-footer+ here, and one of the near worst was when I was walking on dry land, eating a picnic sandwich and had two of them stand up on their four legs and start chasing me -- I only escaped by jumping onto the back of a car about 30 yards away...which I ran to faster than the gators, but only just. I ended up throwing them the sandwich, which distracted them long enough for some guys to come over and start harassing them back into the swamp.

And that was the least traumatic of the experiences. Having also spent time swimming in and living by some canals in the Florida Keys, there are gators there that crawl up any boat ramp (or whatever else they can find) out of the canals and sit in stalking in back yards for dogs and any other meat (and that includes humans).

Now that the alligator is no longer a threatened species, it's time for people to understand that they are no longer threatened by us humans, and will catch and eat you if they can...an awful truth but a truth nonetheless. Trust me, I know.

About those canals, A LOT of folks swim in them...all over South Florida, particularly. Most people who live there (I have) use many of the canals that have ocean access for ready made pools. We caught lobster dinners in ours just feet behind the house in the Keyes for many years before the water got too polluted for lobsters to bed.

What a horrible way to go. After reading some of the comments here,I guess people are insensitive by nature. Kevin was a great friend to many. All who knew him, loved him and will miss him dearly....party on buddy jw

Dag, S. Those gators really wanted that sammich.

JW- We're not trying to be insensitive. We feel sorry for the fellow, but don't know him.
We do, however, all live right here in Florida and wonder what's going to happen in our backyard one day when our back is turned.

No, Donnah, those gators really wanted MEEEEE.

I think they didn't estimate my fitness level well enough, though (obviously, since I'm still here), since I could outrun them. But barely. I mean, most people don't know that alligators can stand on their four legs and run about as quickly as a human (if not faster), certainly can run down some dogs (and do, since dogs are a favored meal for gators).

I like gators as much as anyone but not anyone/everyone has had as much upclose and personal contact with them as I have, in the wild, on an ordinary day, just barely missing out being their next meal. And as this story points out, this guy didn't miss...sadly and horribly (my sympathies).

But the public in general thinks they're slow moving, sleepy creatures from zoos and containers, while alligators in the wild are anything but.

And that was just one of my stories...there were others of near-miss kind.

S, I've heard it's best to run zig-zag when being chased by a gator as they can't run laterally as fast cause of their short, squat legs. Not that I would ever want to test that bit of advice.

If I ever have the misfortune of being chased by one I would probably just do what you did except I would be screaming like a little girl and would have to clean out my drawers afterward.

I'd have a heart attack. Did you throw your sammich behind you as you ran, S? Hee.

I'm open 24-hours a day for any alligator stories you want to tell.

I fantasize about being eaten by an alligator. I'd put an ad about it in the personnels , but gators don't read newspapers.