Florida alligator attack follows other grisly encounters with gators, crocodiles
An alligator attack in Florida that killed a 2-year-old boy follows several grisly encounters between humans and dangerous aquatic reptiles.
The boy was dragged into the water by an alligator Tuesday night near the upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa as his father frantically tried to rescue his son.
The family of four from Nebraska was on vacation and wading in the Seven Seas Lagoon about 9:20 p.m. when the child was taken from an area where "no swimming" signs were posted by an alligator estimated to be between 4 feet and 7 feet long, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings told a news conference early Wednesday.
Here is a look at other recent encounters:
Cops find alligators eating human body
On Memorial Day, a man's body was found in a South Florida canal being eaten by alligators.
Two fishermen came upon the grisly scene on the edge of the Everglades in Southwest Ranches.
Police investigators in Davie asked for the public's help to identify the man's body, CBS Miami reports.
Police say he is a black male, about 50 to 60 years old, about 5'6"-5'8" and weighing about 200 pounds. He had brown eyes, dark hair and was unshaven. He had no teeth left other than his two rear molars and no tattoos.
Investigators were able to obtain fingerprints for comparison. Police believe the man was dead before the gators began to feed on his body.
Another alligator discovered gnawing on dead body
A week later, a 9-foot alligator near a Florida lake got a hold of another dead body.
Lakeland police spokesman Gary Gross said officers responded to Lake Hunter on June 7 following a report of an alligator with a body in its mouth.
On Friday, Gross told local media that 72-year-old Richard Zachary Taylor was identified through fingerprints.
Gross said detectives didn't know if Taylor drowned or was killed by the reptile. They're waiting for additional test results from the Medical Examiner's Office.
Taylor's body was decomposed, indicating he had been in the water a couple of days or longer. Remains found inside the alligator during a necropsy were a match to Taylor.
Woman watches friend dragged off beach by crocodile
On May 29, a woman struggled in vain to drag her friend from a crocodile's jaws off a northeast Australian beach.
The pair were in shallow water at Thornton Beach in the World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park in Queensland state when the 46-year-old woman was taken by the crocodile, Police Senior Constable Russell Parker said.
"Her 47-year-old friend tried to grab her and drag her to safety but she just wasn't able to do that," Parker told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Police said the women were swimming in waist-deep water, while paramedics reported they were wading in knee-deep water when the crocodile struck.
The attack occurred near where a 5-year-old boy was taken and killed by a 14-foot crocodile from a swamp in 2009 and a 43-year-old woman was killed by a 16-foot croc while swimming in a creek in 1985.