Golden Gate Estates man loses hand in alligator attack

Published on Jul. 14 2010

Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20100713/NEWS01/7130358/1075/Golden-Gate-Estates-man-loses-hand-in-alligator-attack

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Right here in naplesplus' backyard too - just a block away from here. Poor guy...

This happened just a block away from my house - and the home of http://free.naplesplus.us - weird.

"The man's voice was breathless and panicked as a 911 operator answered his call.

"I got bit by an alligator and it attacked me and took off my left arm," said Timothy Delano, his voice sputtering.

Then the pain became too much to bear.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God ...," he shrieked.

Delano, 18, is in good condition at Lee Memorial Hospital after an alligator bit off his left hand while he was swimming in a Golden Gate Estates canal.

Doctors were unable to reattach Delano's hand, which was retrieved from the alligator's stomach, according to a report by WINK News.

Delano, a recent graduate of Palmetto Ridge High School, was with friends about 9:30 p.m. Sunday at a canal known as "The Crystal" near Everglades Boulevard South and 42nd Avenue Southeast in Collier County. Delano was on a rock in the middle of the canal, but fell into the water. While he tried to get back on the rock, the 10-foot, 2-inch alligator grabbed his hand, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report.

"He started punching it and I guess he punched him enough and it broke loose," Delano's mother, Deborah Delano, told WINK. "It took his hand off, and he went one way and he went the other."

Delano and his friends managed to swim to shore and get into a car, where he called 911. A helicopter transported Delano to Lee Memorial Hospital.

An hour or two later, David Regal, a veteran trapper of 26 years, caught the gator using cow lungs as bait, according to WINK. When he cut the gator open, he found Delano's hand in his stomach.

Delano is the sixth alligator bite victim in Florida this year, according to data from FWC. None of the attacks have been fatal, according to the agency."
-- Golden Gate Estates man loses hand in alligator attack | news-press.com | The News-Press


From another source:

A Florida alligator that chomped off the hand of a teenager was hunted down, killed and opened up so doctors could retrieve the hand, but were then unable to reattach the boy's left hand. A Florida teen is recovering after an alligator bit off his hand.

Tim Delano is recovering in a Fort Meyers-area hospital after the unsuccesful attempt to re-attach the hand.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson Gabriella Ferraro said Delano was attacked while swimming in a Collier County creek around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

"He got yanked underwater and the alligator did what they do and they roll," she said.

That movement, known as the death roll, is an alligator's attempt to drown their prey by rolling repeatedly under the water until that prey is dead.

But in Delano's case, she said, he was able to punch the alligator with his free arm until it let go, taking the 18-year-old's left hand with it.

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