Woman's Body Found in American Alligator's Mouth
Local Police Shoot Alligator Dead
In the southern United States, incidents of people dying from alligator attacks have been occurring one after another, including recent cases where human bodies were found inside alligators' mouths.
On the 30th (local time), Houston authorities in Texas announced that police discovered a human body inside the jaws of an alligator in a swamp area connected to Clear Lake on the southeastern coast of Houston at around 8:40 a.m. on the 28th. Police shot and killed the alligator to prevent it from further damaging the body. Subsequently, a police dive team was dispatched to the scene to recover the body and the alligator carcass. It is known that police were searching the area after receiving a report of a missing woman on the day of the incident.
Police estimate the victim to be a woman in her 60s and are awaiting the autopsy results from the county forensic laboratory to confirm the exact identity and cause of death. According to a local CBS affiliate, the victim's husband told police that his wife went out for a walk at around 7:30 p.m. on the day before the accident (the 27th) and did not return.
Local resident Angela Deras said, "There are alligators about 8 ft (2.4 m) to 10 ft (3 m) long living down there. I know the places where they like to lie in the sun," adding, "But this is the first time I've heard of something like this happening here, so it's a bit scary."
Previously, in July last year, a 69-year-old woman in South Carolina died after being attacked by an alligator while walking her pet dog near a pond. The woman left her home at around 7 a.m. on the day of the incident to walk her dog, but only the dog returned home afterward.
Meanwhile, in September last year, a large alligator over 4 meters long was found holding parts of a human body in Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) responded to the report and captured the alligator at the scene. The alligator was identified as a male measuring 4.2 meters in length and was eventually euthanized. The body the alligator was holding was confirmed to be that of a 41-year-old woman.
Compared to Florida, alligator attacks are relatively rare in Texas, but CBS reported that residents' anxiety is growing as cases of alligator-related incidents increase, such as an incident earlier this month in Cleveland, northeast of Houston, where a police officer was bitten while trying to chase an alligator off the road.
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