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Posted on 08/11/2026 1:09:11 PM PDT by Red Badger
A woman in Florida has lost her arm following an alligator attack that took place Saturday. A hero boater who was in the area possibly saved her life.
With a group of swimmers, the woman was in the Silver River around Ocala when all of a sudden she saw an alligator heading in her direction, and in response, she used a paddle in an attempt to ward it off. The gator instead bit her right arm and pulled her underwater.
Not far from the scene, John Gamache and his father were on a boat eating lunch when they could hear the commotion.
“I looked just upriver from us a couple hundred feet and saw an alligator head way above the water and going full speed towards the swimmers,” said Gamache while speaking with FOX 35 Orlando.
Florida swimmer's arm ripped off by alligator in gruesome attack that left 'bones poking out' - before being saved by Good Samaritan
https://t.co/dUmgWe3HVz pic.twitter.com/56GWv9tXhh
— New York Post (@nypost) August 10, 2026 Immediately, Gamache rushed his boat to the scene, with the vessel scaring the alligator away from the woman.
When Gamache reached the woman, he witnessed gruesome visuals.
“It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere. Obviously, the minutes mattered,” said Gamache, per FOX 35.
As the woman was losing blood, Gamache took a rope on his boat to tie off her arm that was injured. His father assisted with getting the rest of the group, which included children, out of the river and placed onto the boat.
The family of the woman spoke Sunday with FOX 35 and stated that she survived the alligator attack. Losing her right arm, she was ultimately released from the hospital and is in recovery at home.
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Gator Ping......................
She’s now called ‘lefty’.
Those gators don’t play around.
Florida men— good job!
If the water is wet there’s alligators in Florida waters. Were they swimming? Not a good decision.
Swimming in a river in Florida is really stupid. I’m sorry this woman lost her arm and glad she’s still alive.
I swam there as a youth. Never had to worry about alligators back then.
Someone once told me that one should assume that any body of water in Florida has alligators in it. Even check your swimming pool in the back yard before jumping in
IDK - I’m from New York.
Alligators can run 35 miles an hour in a straight line for a short distance. In addition to not swimming in ponds or rivers in Florida, people should not stand anywhere near when an alligator is nearby.
I think it’s too bad that people can’t swim in the water in Florida anymore, because of how many alligators there are. I say, let’s get them back to where they are endangered again. I’d love to have an alligator backpack.
We have allowed this nonsense. Are we better off or are the alligators better off?
It’s pretty much true.
Sweet Jesus, these alligators really seem to have figured out how to de-wing humans lately
All true..........
It is 100% stupid to swim in any freshwater in Florida.
Florida Women catching up to Florida Men.
I swam in the Silver River near the Springs many times as a young person. We always thought the water was too cold for gators. We were more worried about the huge Alligator Gar.
Yeah, I guess the alligators have gotten used to being near the springs cold water now. Such a shame.
I live outside Tampa for a while and had a large lake behind my house. I checked my driveway before going outside to make sure they were not laying there sunning as they did most of the time. Always scary to see new folks move into the neighborhood and first thing they do is walk the dog along the lake shore or worse let the dog swim.
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