Carol Hough, 84-year-old Florida woman attacked, loses an arm
An elderly woman in Leesburg, Florida had her arm severed off Wednesday morning in a vicious alligator attack.
Photo/Enfield Connecticut Police Department
Carol Hough, age 84, fell into the canal behind her mobile home and the gator attacked her, biting off her arm above the elbow.
Leesburg fire officials described the scene as “gruesome”
Lake County sheriff’s deputies said Hough was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center. She was listed in stable condition.
The reports have the alligator at 7 1/2 to 8 feet long. It was shot, killed and dissected to determine there was a “hamburger patty in the gator’s stomach” but no sign of the senior’s limb.
Hough’s neighbor, Delmas Zickefoose, had woken up early that morning and was drinking a cup of coffee when he spotted Hough flailing in the canal behind his home. He threw down his coffee cup and ran outside to help when he noticed that one arm was missing from her shoulder.
Zickefoose jumped into the water to help Hough and said that she kept saying, “Gator.”
“I grabbed her and held her above the water,” Zickefoose said. “She was just about giving up. I held her to my chest and got her back over to shore.”
He saw the gator swim away as he helped his neighbor.
