Posted on 03/20/2008 5:21:38 PM PDT by Vision
MARATHON, Fla. (AP) - A 75-pound stingray killed a Michigan woman Thursday when it flew out of the water and struck her in the face as she rode in a boat in the Florida Keys, officials said.
Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in a boat going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The 57-year-old woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said.
"He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously," Pino said.
The impact likely killed the woman, but it was not immediately clear if she had any puncture wounds from the ray's barb, Pino said. An autopsy will determine an official cause of death, Pino said.
Spotted eagle rays can weigh up to 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail as a defense mechanism.
The rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming on the water's surface.
"Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites," said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. "They do not attack people."
gnip...
I'd be broke tomorrow.
I was once fishing in stiltsville on Biscayne Bay when one of these monsters came out of th ewater about fifty feet in front of me. My fishing pole accidentally fell in the water about ten minutes later and I refused to retrieve it.
Okay, I want to see a video of a stingray jumping in the air and shooting out babies. That would be cool.
Very cool and unforgettable.
They go for the heart.
In 2006, a South Florida man was also critically injured when a stingray flopped into his boat and stung him. James Bertakis, 82, of Lighthouse Point, underwent surgery because the stingray left a foot-long barb in his heart. He has since recovered.
Boy, you can never tell, can you? Poor lady.
That's sure a lot to pack into one jump.
The stingray landed in the boat and died as a result of the impact. Zagorski’s blood and the animal’s blood were both found in the boat, officials said.
The victim’s sister, who was not identified, was standing next to her when the stingray flew out of the water. The sister was not injured, Pino said.
After Zagorski and the stingray made impact, her father drove the boat to his winter home in South Florida.
Neighbors said they’d heard screams and immediately called 911. They said Zagorski’s sister tried desperately to save her life.
However, she was taken to Fisherman’s Hospital and pronounced dead.
Linvill said sharkes prey on the spotted eagle ray. She said she’s not sure what happened with the ray that killed the woman from Michigan, but it may have been on the run.
“It’s rare for them to actually hit somebody,” she said. “You will see them out in nature jumping out of the water.”
The spotted eagle ray is part of the flying ray family. Those types of stingrays, like the counto at the Miami Seaquarium, prefer to swim, as opposed to bottom-dwellers that dig themselves in the sand.
“They eat mollusks, they can eat small fish,” Linvill said. “Most of the time they’re just swimming in the open ocean until they look for food.”
The spotted eagle rays have a venomous tip at the end of their tails.
“It’s their only form of protection,” Linvill said.
She offered some advice to stay safe around stingrays.
“When you enter the water, you need to shuffle your feet and they’ll know you’re coming,” she said.
Linvill said that anyone in the water who sees a stingray swimming should watch them from a distance and leave them alone so as not to make them feel threatened in any way.
http://research.myfwc.com/features/view_article.asp?id=28370
First the Crocodile Hunter, and now this.
something about this sounds fishy...
Adding insult to injury, the stingray apparently stole her hat.
“The officer on scene said she fell and maybe struck her head, too,” Dube said. “There was a lot of blood on the boat.
There was no immediate cause of death, although authorities said no barb wounds were found on the woman. The spotted eagle ray landed in the bow of the boat, and it appears the woman may have hit her head on a metal rail on the side of the boat. She will be taken for an autopsy to be performed by the Monroe County medical examiner.
The woman was pleasure boating with her elderly parents and a sister about 10 a.m. on a 25-foot open fisherman vessel.
“She was just cruising on the boat, thinking they would enjoy a nice day of fun in the sun when something tragic happened,” Dube said. “I’ve been in the Keys just under 20 years, and this is a first.”
After the woman was struck, family members performed CPR and drove the boat to the nearest dock. A resident called 911.
“They naturally jump out of the water, like porpoises do,” Dube said. “It’s natural to them and quite spectacular to watch.”
Dube said it was just a freak accident for the woman to be in the ray’s path when it jumped.
Additional comments where this was posted in chat.
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