"It's right next to Lake O and there are thousands of alligators here," said FWC Captain Jeff Ardelean." So then what the hell was the kid doing swimming there! Not a few, not hundreds, but THOUSANDS OF ALLIGATORS. And this is that gator's fault? This is what they do. They're not teddy bears, stay the heck away from them or lose a limb. But whatever...guess this is the part where we're all supposed to feel sorry for the teenager that probably did this on a bet.

It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top. -attributed to Hunter S. Thompson

Tart Doctor,

please tell me you are kidding? And, that you are not a doctor, lol. I have read some really stupid posts on here at times, but you my friend, wow, really sad that your brain still works, lol. That is about the worst idea ever! Take a nap man. You need it.

@ Tart Doctor

You can't be serious. We are at the top of the food chain because we take a threat seriously an eliminate that threat...yes.

But, we have also learned that hunting a group of animals almost to extinction is dangerous and foolish.

@ Famous Amos

On the flip side we don't avoid swimming in rivers just because there are alligators, just like we don't avoid driving because we can be hit head on by other motorists and killed instantly. There is no "fault" in this story. However, as the higher species, we've learned when animals get a taste for human blood they start to crave it. This is why man eaters of any variety are put down.

The teen was doing what boys do on a hot summer day, taking a swim. So sorry for his loss. He seems to have a good attitude about it. I wish him the very best.

FamousAmos-3755959 - Apparently you've never met anyone who's grown up in an area like this. It's part of who they are and what they do. They have just as much right to live how they choose as you do.

Hahahah I love Swamp People!!!!!

I am sorry for this boys loss - it could have been worse! BUT........

Alligators are not picky eaters, they'll eat ANYTHING that happens to enter their territory. The only taste they have is for the next meal, they don't develop favorite foods appetites. So why did they have to kill this animal - human revenge is the only answer......to get the boys arm back for re-attachment? Alligators have very strong digestive systems - they can digest/dissolve anything of flesh and bone! The article doesn't state how long after the incident they killed the alligator but (forgive my assumption here) probably the main reason doctors couldn't re-attach his arm is because it had been digested beyond usability.

Sorry for another assumption, but, if this kid was a local, he knew there were dangerous 'gators around....so why would he swim in their territory? I think anyone -ANYONE - would know better. Hey, why don't we all meet tomorrow, in the local zoos Tiger exhibit for a lunch and discussion of this incident? Forrest Gump comes to mind!

"choot em lizbeth choot em"

F@#k with the bull, you get the horn....If you live in Forida, wouldn't you or shouldn't you be somewhat aware of gators and their habitat?....this kid must have been clueless, or the whole story hasn't been heard yet....

Really stupid kids. And really stupid to kill the gator.

Sorry about the young man losing his arm. That is the sad part. Yet where is Troy Landry & Clint when you need them??? "Choot it, Choot it.." Alligator jambalaya tonight!!!!

And really stupid to kill the gator.

Sorry, but that was pretty much the only option. Once a meat eater loses it's fear of humans, it's gonna go back for more. As sad as it is to have to kill the animal, they had no choice.

Secondly, the kid's arm was still in the gator and I doubt it was going to cough it up willingly so that it could be reattached.

Tart Doctor, You sir are an idiot! Thank You!

I sense a Darwin Award nomination in somebody's future.

Tart Doctor,

Human Beings are more dangerous than any other creature on Earth . Maybe you want to eliminate them as well?

SabotAndHeat

On the flip side we don't avoid swimming in rivers just because there are alligators, just like we don't avoid driving because we can be hit head on by other motorists and killed instantly.

...........A very poor analogy, when you drive down the road, you are not exposing yourself to other drivers who will deliberately target you and drive head on into you, those occurrences are accidents, just like tripping and falling down some stairs, which has happened and people have died. Most of us have to drive our vehicles in order to live our lives. On the other hand, swimming in rivers in many parts of Florida (and other southern states as well) does expose yourself to other creatures that will deliberately target you, as many unfortunate people have found out, and no one really has to swim in these rivers, if you are that obsessed with immersing yourself in water, there are pool and waterparks

.......As far as this kid goes, hope he recovers as well as can be expected under the circumstances, but as to why he was swimming there, when have teenagers ever been known to exercise good, sound common sense?

For those of you who are not from here. Swimming in the River is a way of life. You're out on the boat, it's hot, you jump in the river/lake/canal to go for a swim and cool off. This young man is not ignorant of the gators in this area. He has grown up here. We are taught to RESPECT the natural wildlife.

As for having to kill the alligator, well since it attacked a human once, it is considered dangerious. There are many people that live on that river with small children, would you rather it attack and kill a small kid, or your beloved fido?

Gators normally stay out of the Caloosahatchee river since the water is brackish and lots of boats. But somerimes they do venture in there for short periods, especially at night. I used to own a condo in North Fort Myers directly on the river. You see all kinds of critters in this river, both saltwater and freshwater. I've seen dolphins, sharks, water moccasins, gators, and otters.

And I love the tree-hugging, hippie liberals boo hooing for the poor gator and ripping this teenager. So the next time someone is bitten by a shark in Florida, you will all call for banning swimming in the Atlantic Ocean?

Yes, good for the animals I say. Let them scare us for a change. Thats all we do is slaughter animals every moment of every single day. We are not gods here. We share this place. Be responsible for your actions! Don't be a complete idiot, get your self hurt, and then eliminate the problem. Thats how kids think. Be an adult and maybe say to yourself "that is dangerous, I'm going to stay away from that". If you swim where large pradators that can certainly eat you live, then you deaserve exactly what you get. Period. Put your head in the lions mouth and you get bit, kill the lion? How about we start putting down people that get themselves hurt for being stupid. Same philosophy. Think!

Everyone who lives in Florida (well almost everybody ) knows that you do not swim in rivers, ponds and lakes here. Alligators are little or no danger on land, but in the water watch out.

Media coverage of wild animal attacks is way out of proportion. It's time to for the media to stop villainizing wild animals. Nearly 500 people a day are murdered by humans in this country. Many more thousands are sent to the hospital with serious injuries by human attacks each day. Wild animal attacks on humans are incredibly rare by comparison.

Heather from SW Florida

For those of you who are not from here. Swimming in the River is a way of life

.......and sometimes death. Being a way of life does not make it a sensible thing to do, kind of like the running of the bulls in Pamplona.

Leave the gators alone! For some dumb and uncaring teenager who knew there were gators there but swam anyway, now a beautiful alligator is killed once again. Gators belong in the lakes and rivers of Florida and perhaps people who don't like or respect the gators should just move to another state or swim in the ocean with the sharks. I lived in Florida for over 10 years and loved seeing the amazing alligators and I also respected them and never swam in their home. So get the idiots out of Florida and stop killing the gators for doing what comes natural to them, swimming and eating. How dumb are teens getting?

Tart dr has GOT to be a troll..he is just trying to hard...

As for the boy...why was he swimming where there were known to be lots of alligators? That's like going to Africa and deciding to walk among the wildlife...

Like someone said, it could have been a LOT worse...they could be cutting that kid's body (or parts of it) out of that animal.

Why is it so freaking hard to respect the animal kingdom? Just because we are highest in this hierarchy doesn't mean things will be different because you wish it to be.

Tart Doctor - if you were trying to be sarcastic, you failed and need to work on it, if you are serious you need to really rethink you outlook on life and the world around you.

Wildcat - very good point. It's more exciting and Hollywood like to hear about a "monster" attacking someone than to admit to how rare this is (ok rare so lets report it but..) or at least bring up some comparison numbers and facts (gasp) to show that its not a major problem. That way people like Tart Doctor don't get their dumb ideas.

Chris - I to question the taste or appetite part, like wtfjes did, about getting human blood, at least for gators anyways; I mean they will eat something that has been rotting for a few days so... But as far as not being afraid of humans, I don't think most gators are afraid of humans. To them you are just one more dinner opportunity. In fact there are plenty of wild animals that I would say have no fear of people, especially when you get on their turf and are on their terms. I do agree with the arm part though.

As for this boy, glad to hear he will make it, sucks he lost his arm, but at least he does seem to be in good spirits about it. It certainly isn't the smartest thing to be swiming in these waters but it appears that is a way of life for these people in this area and they learn to live with it, which means you hope they understand the dangers and realize this is always a chance this could happen, if not realizing this then stupid them. Anyways, best of luck to him.

As to killing the gator, more than anything it probably was revenge but I think maybe they also thought that they could reattach the arm if they got it back (though not surprised at all that they couldn't give the environment it was in and gators tear they don't cut or slice clean). Surprised to they were able to find that gator at all. Believe me I don't condone killing animals needlessly (we need to show a lot more respect and understanding of nature and stop the king of the food chain junk), and they probably should've just left it alone, but they are not endangered and if they thought they could get the arm back well I suppose it was worth it. Not to mention they do hunt and harvest these gators down there anyways. Hopefully they will at least eat the meat and use the hide so it doesn't go to waste. Considering this boy's good spirits might have a cookout over this.

It is time

So FamousAmos and others live in a bubble? Your world is completely risk free, is it? How very nice for you. Not everyplace is so well controlled. But then, you could be texting and step off a curb and get flattened by one of those risk free buses or trains. Thins like this happen, it's rare, but it happens. People are killed far more often by cars, planes and other things than are by Gators, Sharks, jelly fish, etc. So one Alligator attacks this kid and it's the end of the world to you? It's awful yes, but, wheres the out rage for the everyday occurrences of people getting killed in your part of the world?

Some of you get all twisted up over something far more rare than the accidents, shootings , stabbings, etc that happen every single day in cities in the country? Your priorities are a little skewed aren't they?

@ Tart Doctor, you can't be serious. That is the most idiotic thing I've ever seen on msnbc's website and they put out a LOT of stupid crap, and so do their bloggers. But hunting an animal to extinction on purpose definitely tops it. When has that EVER worked out well for the planet? So by your standards, when nature is an inconvenience we should just destory it so that NO ONE can enjoy it? I think you must be the only person on Earth who still thinks that way, how archaic of you. Think back to the 1800's man, buffalo and wolves were in the same boat that you're now putting alligators in. And how do we now, as nation, feel about what we did to those populations. We decimated them from some of the most thriving animal poplulations in the world to basically extinction. And why? Because they were and inconvenience to the railroad and to farmers; and today we deeply regret our actions of disregard for nature. It follows the same concept as destoying the planet's rain forests for crop land; once these natural resources are gone they aren't coming back...ever, so you had best be certain of your conviction. It makes me sick to think of how we, as a people, have rapped our own landscape and stripped it of its beauty. But the great thing about being human is that we are able to learn from our past and make adjustments to ensure that we don't make the same over again; apparently some of us haven't progressed as well as others. And please, don't mistake my passion for natural beauty for some free-spirit hippie-loving tree-hugging bullcrap. My passion is derrived purely from an outdoorsman's standpoint. I enjoy the untammed wilderness and all that it has to offer; what a great shame it would be to lose such a great part of our natural history (the American alligator) and deprive future generations from knowing its awesome beauty! Anyway, what's with the alligator romance or alligators not owning any water crap you mention in your post. You said a lot of stupid crap, much adue about nothing and none of which makes a lick of sense. Of course the alligators don't own the water by our definition of "own". But by history's definition of "ownership", the entire world is owned by the creatures of the land, water, and sky; humans are the intruders. Tart Doctor, you sir, upset me in your conjecture. I sincerely hope your life perspective is enlightened.

HI dissapointed & Ashamed

WE were put here and were given dominion over the animals . with this said being balanced with nature and also looking out for the well being of human life their needs to be balance . I grew up in Florida and at 50 years old i went swimming in a lake in De Land were gators were . At that time not many were around but they were in the lake. Today there are to many in areas were people live, work and play . I believe we need more controlled hunting . This Gator needed to be hunted down and killed .period end of story.

I grew up in Florida and in the early 70's we (as a society) was trying to help the alligator population recover which was certainly needed at the time. Seeing a gator was not common and, if you did, they were MAYBE 6 or 7 feet long with most smaller than that. So they were extremely protected.

But now we have a problem. Gators are so common our family counts them as we drive over a bridge to see how many we can spot sunning or swimming around in the lake under the bridge. You go out fishing and seeing an 8 or 9 foot gator is now very common with an occasional 10 or 11 foot gator. These things are MASSIVE!! We are hearing more and more about pets being eaten and children, or even adults, attacked.

Although there is limited hunting of gators there should be more. Don't misunderstand me - I am not talking about "free hunting at will" but we really need to raise the quotas of those that hunt gators. These things are becoming commonplace and not unusual to actually see a gator crossing a less traveled road. These gators have recovered just fine and now it is necessary to "thin the herd" or we will continue to see more and more human attacks.

@ Roadhouse Blues

The analogy only points to the fact that everyone has a choice to make when doing anything that involves risk. It also points to the fact that it is far more likely that you will be injured or killed in a car accident than from an alligator attack (even if you swim in Florida rivers your entire life).

Would you then question peoples decision to go into there back yard had the alligator been on land and attacked. You do realize they are amphibious and have killed on land?

I was born and raised in southern Florida... Fort Myers, which is right on the Caloosahatchee. I've been swimming in it many times. At that point of the river you have as much risk of being bit by a shark as an alligator.

Should we not go into the water at the beach due to sharks?

Should we not go hiking because of bears?

Stop living in fear and blaming others for not burying their head in the sand too!

richfree,

We were put here? We were given dominion over animals? Conversation over. You have eliminated yourself from an adult conversation. I know, the guy with the magic wand blah blah. You live in a place that I don't understand. You have all the answers right? You believe that you have the human handbook. Lol. Wow, good luck!

When I was a teenager, in Fairhope, Alabama, we used to swim in water where we could see an alligator that we estimated to be about eight feet long. It never bothered us, but a lot of dogs and cats went missing there. When we were older, we realised the gator just wasn't hungry when we were in the water. Years later Ib was canoeing on the same creek, and I literally went over a gator that was much bigger. Then maybe ten years ago We talked with a woman who said it was still in that area, so nobody even put their feet in the water there. While we were talking, we were looking at a three foot gator sunning. When we tried to get closer, the gator took off. You couldn't pay me to swim there now.

WildCatWest:

Obviously, you have never seen the news stories where alligators have come up on land, grabbed an animal, killed a human or hung out in someone's house or pool.

A landscaper working in a yard on the side of a canal was grabbed from behind by a large alligator and killed when he dragged her into the canal and she drowned and was half eaten. Hmmm no alligators are pets on land.

A lady came home to find an alligator roaming her home. Yea, alligators are only in the water.

Several residents have been bitten while in their own yards by alligators. They have been found in private ponds miles from canals or rivers, and even in backyard pools.

My family, who has owned cattle in Florida since the 1800's and had pastureland on the Wekiva River, constantly fought alligators from eating their cows. The gators would get into the pasture during high water by coming over the flooded fences. My father has seen a 12 foot gator pull a 1200 lb Brahma bull down into a canal. Alligators are vicious, killing machines. Any gator caught on our property was promptly disposed of. Sorry, not losing money because a gator wanted a nice filet mignon. He was not in his natural habitat, he was on our land.

I don't like the way people are blaming the kid. Yes, he should have known. Generally, though, if there are gators around you can see them and be aware. My family used to go fishing all the time, wading and boating, and we were careful to look out for gators and water moccasins. The problem you run into is that Florida has a lot of transplants now, people who did not grow up here and don't know when mating season is, and don't know what signs to look for, etc. A little common sense goes a long way.

animals are crude and dangerous creatures who mate mostly by rape and will eat human babys and adults

You do know that the reason males compete so fiercely in mating season is so they will be CHOSEN by the females, don't you? The female has to allow the mating, she isn't forced. Humans are the only animals that rape.

With a few exceptions, attacks on humans are due to overpopulation, lack of other food sources, and shrinking habitats. They don't actively hunt humans, and when they go after children and weaker humans for food it is usually just by opportunity.

We have more to worry about from other humans.

That said, I am sorry the kid lost his arm, but swimming there was plain stupid. Gators are dangerous and ornery under the best of circumstances, and much worse during mating season. They are even more dangerous than most because they are silent, practically invisible if underwater, and hide easily when partially above water.

@ProBusiness

I'm in Louisiana, and we don't have the problems with gators Florida does, but I have to agree with you. They are no longer endangered or even at risk (we even have gator farms), and it is never a good idea to allow overpopulation.

richfree - No, there are too many of us where animals live and hunt. Not the other way around. This planet is shared among all life on it - we don't own anything. We've hunted, bred, and died on this planet the same as everything else.

The most idiotic idea is that when an animal 'tastes human blood' suddenly they 'crave' it as if ours tastes any different from any other primate, or most land mammals for that matter. They don't 'crave' it, they're not freakin' vampires. We just suddenly become part of their food chain. Since there are 7 billion of us, that's a lot of successful hunting as we're very like to encounter predatory animals.

They don't have public swimming pools in Florida? Since we consider ourselves at the top of the animal kingdom, we need to act like it. We need to educate ourselves and stay out of the places that dangerous animals live and stop killing off their food supplies. As the supposedly most intelligent species, we do the dumbest things, like introducing non-native plants and animals and over fishing/ hunting other species to extinction.

Tart: I'm a liberal, and I love animals, but I agree. Anything that eats people is fair game for elimination.

I say down with bears, too. They're useless for anything other than eating people. Oh, they have cute cubs, but who cares? That bear is gonna eat you when he grows up. And if we could find a way to get rid of sharks, then I might be able to enjoy going surfing with my brother. Damn sharks.

You squirt poison on wasp nests just because you don't want them on your house. What's the difference? You snap the little necks of cute little mice (or worse yet, smother them in glue) just because you don't want to share your bread with them. What's the difference, other than size? Some people keep mice as pets, you know.

"Mmmmm, yummy cheese. Thank you kind humans!" *CRUNCH* End of mouse. Shouldn't have been in my kitchen, Mickey.

Florida had a ban on the hunting of alligators for many years; all of a sudden they found themselves up to their elbows in alligators, all lakes in Florida are inhabited by gators; although they now have a limited supply of gator tags, the gators are breeding a lot faster than they can thin them out, there are more and more often gator attacks happening, they need to thin out the packs.

Alligators and crocodiles hands down scariest critters! I think they're worse than sharks. -shudder-

"This area isn't Disneyland. It's right next to Lake O and there are thousands of alligators here," said FWC Captain Jeff Ardelean.

You can't fix stupid.

Great sarcasm, Tart!
It Is Time, He only failed in your eyes because you bought into it.

"That's all he got left cuz the alligator bit it!"

"right arm gone clean up to the elbow!"

-Jerry Reed

Toosano - No, that is why I started off like I did and was clearly not the only one or the first. The only reason I leaned more towards taking him serious was because the sarcasm was very thin at best a seemed to lean more to being serious. Its one thing to say it with the emotion but you have to be a little more direct when writing it out and he wasn't therefore fail. I hope he was being sarcastic, I really do. Sad fact though is there are plenty of nuts out there who would agree with him. And he has yet to come on here and clear that up. Which maybe in that case he is a troll??

For the record, I didn't see a single tree hugging hippie condemn the teen and praising the gator. It seems most intelligent people here can see the the gator was not to blame but that it had to be put down so that it did not attack anyone else. I also think most realize the teen made a silly choice to swim with gators but they realize it was his choice. Not theirs.

It said he uses his left hand to steer.

Bud,

So you don't swim in the ocean either? I assume this because you know there are sharks in the ocean right?

And don't go in the woods, you might get attacked by a bear, or a snake, or a mountain lion. And don't go near any spiders, some can kill you, guess that puts your basement/attic/shed off limits. Don't want to go outside after sunset, a mosquito might bite you and give you west nile. Heck, don't go outside at all, a swarm of killer bees might desend on you at any moment. Okay, lets just make it easy, create a nice sterile environment for you to live in where nothing from the outside world can get it, stuff out there can hurt and even kill you you know? And hey, they have all those documentaries from the crazy people that actually did something productive with their lives to show you what the rest of the world looks like, no need to actually go see it yourself, right?

Obviously none of these posters have seen southern rivers and lakes that inhabited by alligators... In some places you can almost guarantee an alligator would attack you if you got in the water.. This seems like one of those places, based on the article. Other larger lakes where you see a single alligator every couple of years.. i could understand.

Mewers,

I live in South Florida, in fact I have a family of crocs who live in my canal. Obviously I know they are there and I don't swim with them (not that I have interest in swimming in a canal anyway). Just like I wouldn't get in the water if I got to the reef and saw a bit shark swimming around, but does that mean I don't swim in the ocean at all because there MIGHT be a shark? No that is silly.

It sounds like this individual had been swimming in the area before, probably his whole life, this time he just ended up being there the same time as a predator.

hiap...do people around you have pools? Just a curious person.

Sure, I have a pool at my house, how does that relate to swimming in the ocean? I don't live in the swamps, and I wouldn't swim in that water, but clearly people who live there do, and apparently they don't always get bit by an alligator as people are implying in this article, any more than everyone gets bit by a shark when they swim in the ocean.

And anymore you don't have to be a Florida or Louisiana resident to know almost anything about the hazards of gators. There is more media coverage on this particular species than any other in quite some time. Think about it....Gator Boys, Swamp People, the movie Lake Placid and some of us even know who Rocky was from the Movie Joe Dirt. Lake Placid actually concerned itself with Crocs but if you didn't educate yourselves during Joe Dirt, there is just something totally unAmerican about you.

Yeldarb - Most intelligent people don't watch those shows. I never heard of either of the movies.

Wryview Now that comment was unintelligent.

Are you actually going to tell me that you have never even heard of Lake Placid with Betty White or Joe Dirt starring David Spade????????? What lake have you been swimming in?

To quote 2 apropos moments from each movie......

Betty White: "This is when if I had a dick, I'd tell you to suck it."

David Spade: " You are going to stand there owning a fireworks stand and tell me you have no lady fingers, fuzz buttles, snicker bombs, church burners, whistling kitty chasers, no, hooskers doos or hoosker don'ts, You a fire works salesman are going to tell me that you have no nipsy daiseys, with or without the scooter stick?"

Am I really the only one that recognizes the name "Rocky" from Joe Dirt? What is this world coming to?

As I understand it, when they pulled his arm from the dead gators stomach, his fist was still clinched so that he was giving the gator the finger all the way down. Great fighting spirit kid.

Even if people do not watch those shows, to insinuate that mostly stupid people watch them is fairly stupid in itself. Lake Placid is also nothing like Joe Dirt---meaning it has nothing to do with backwoods, not too bright people. If you haven't heard of it, you don't like horror movies.

I could add Happy Gilmore to that list as well.

Joe Dirt and Lake Placid were classics and loaded with humor and both had Crocs/gators, you could have also added The Water Boy. "Mama say gators are so mad because they got all them teeth and no tooth brush".

I agree Jake...it's unfortunate and I'm sorry he lost his arm. But I'm also sorry the gator was killed (I realize they were trying to save his arm). If the kid had been attacked in his bathtub by a gator, well, then we have a predator. But this was the gators' home turf and the kid was the intruder and should have known better...especially during mating season? He's lucky to be alive and I'm happy for him. Just wish people would think....even us Californians' know enough not to go in the water when there's been a shark siting! (Well, most of us anyway!)

ANY time a gator attacks and harms a human they go after it to kill it. It doesn't matter whether a limb was lost of not.

C'mon people, it's only an alligator.......there are millions of them out there. I suppose you've NEVER done anything stupid? If a kid is a moron every time he makes a stupid mistake, ........welll then we're pretty much all guilty, except for a few of the perfect people??

I say that there aught to be a culling of the gators. They are a predatory animal, they are dangerous and there is too many of them. Just like there is a deer season, there should be gator season especially since they are not and I repeat they are not in danger of being extinct. Control some of the population. Poor gator my eye, you people who see this gators death as senseless, I hope you get one on your own property and it takes some thing of yours then we will see what you say.

C'mon Johnattide, it's only a person... there are billions of them out there, so who cares if one loses an arm?

joy57111.........There is a gator hunting season.

lisamarie, that's a little extreme, don't you think? The gators overpopulation are as bad as the deer overpopulation where I live, not a day goes by we don't see several fresh roakill deer by our roads, I know we've encroached on their territory, but that's what hunting is for, to keep down the numbers and accidents at a minimum and it still really doesn't work. I guess if it were your son he'd still be a moron? or would you be picketing somewhere while your child recovered that a gator lost its life?

Joy57111 Just so you know in Florida you can hunt gator anytime of the year. You must purchase a permit and a license. If you are not a residence it will cost a little over a thousand dollars to hunt them. You are allowed 2 gators. Remember any gator over 9foot is a male.

lisa..... first.... the teen was not swimming in the lake, he was swiming in the river that the lake fed. The lake is about 400 square miles long/wide. It is a huge lake, smaller than Lake Erie but still huge. Second for all those who believe killing the allegator was"senseless or an act of revenge" it is obvious you are not from around here. The allegator was killed because it was not afraid of humans. This is significant when you talk aboout these attacks.... most allegators will go the other way when humans come near them there is plenty..... PLENTY.... of food for them to eat down here. It probably was fed by humans and there fore it connects humans with a source of food. If you need to blame someone blame the person(s) that may have thought it was cute to feed the wild animals.

Lisa,

Are you stupid or something? Of course the gator had to be killed, it had the kids arm inside of it, and peoples arms are more important than a gator. Plus it's not like the kid attacked it first and the gator was just fighting back, the gator was the aggressor, therefore the one-armed boy probably doesn't feel too guilty for having the poor savage killed. Glad we got that settled.

Boy goes swimming in lake..........alligator sees boy, thinks he's food...........alligator attacks boy & rips off his arm........boy lives & despite what happened is in great spirits..............alligator is then killed. I understand there are people that blame the boy & think the gator didn't deserve to die, but they had to do what they had to do. I don't believe in the whole "oh they killed it b/c it got a taste of human blood so then it will crave it", come on now, blood is blood, if it's edible the gator will eat it. They don't care about taste, they just care about getting their next meal. I agree the boy probably shouldn't have been swimming there, if he hadn't this could have been avoided, but fact is it happened & noone can change it now. Sure the alligator did what was instinct to him (hunting for food), but he HAD to be put down, b/c since he attacked a human he probably more then likely wouldn't be afraid to do it again. I'm just glad that the boy didn't get killed & that he's in great spirits even after loosing his arm, & that this alligator won't be able to harm or possibly kill another person.

Well he's 17, so he has 4 yrs to think about how he's going to do that. ;) lol.

It'd be a little different if the gator came up on the kids porch and ate his arm off. Give me a break, there are THOUSANDS of gators and everyone in Florida is completely aware of this, and they all know to stay away, but this kid chose to swim with them? That really sucks he lost his arm, but stupid is stupid!

To iamnotyou.. yes people "belong" but so do animals. the kid must have known there were gators in that water, yet he chose to enter.his stupidity cost the life of an animal doing what those animals have done for a million years. perhaps if some kind "people" person had poisoned the thousands of gators so the kid could have a good time wherever the hell he wanted to.. im a conservative person, but I also have the basic respect and common sense to know we're only one part of the ecosystem. just the huberous and arrogance of youth and entitlement mindset. oh, and sheer stupidity.

"Iamnotyou" They may or may not have been taunting the gator, but don't use "they said they weren't taunting them" as an argurment. Teenagers lie. A lot of people lie if they think they are going to be in trouble. Look, if you swim in a river with thousands of gators, there is a good chance you are going to get attacked. It's not the animal's fault. If you go jump into a polar bear exhibit at the zoo and get eaten, it's not the polar bears fault. The kid did a really stupid thing and lost his arm over it. At least he did not lose his life.

Maybe someone at peta can get a pair of shoes and a bag out of this gator!

FYI Alligators do serve a purpose in the whole food chain of nature, maybe you people should check out facts and information before posting stupid comments. Sorry for the child losing his arm but living in FL I know there are gators in almost every body of water. He apparently is from FL and having a airboat rides the waters so he should have been aware of it being mating season, but then being a kid you never think of these things until after it happens. I remember swimming in all kinds of lakes in the summer and never thinking of an gator being there until my grandfather found out and let me and my friend know we were swimming right where he said a gator had a nest. Now that I am an adult you won't catch me in a lake in FL.

Do you really think the guys would say if they were teasing or taunting the alligator? Airboat+hot day+alligator+swimming+(article didn't mention alcohol, but there aren't many young guys on an airboat without it.) = bad news.

This gator did not come onto this kid's property. He chose to swim in waters where it is known to have gators. The animal did what we've all been taught that they do. The kid learned a lesson the very hard way. Bet he won't do that again.

He could do it one more time, but not again, because then, he'll be out of arms.

To say we do not need gators anymore...what planet did you come from? The alligators are an integral part of the food chain/ecosystem. Without them, the system breaks down to eventually where everything, including humans, dies off. You want that? The organisms outside your door were not brought here from a spaceship. The grass and trees and flowers all have a purpose. Just the like birds, bees, ants, etc. If one species is removed, it can negatively affect the rest of the ecosystem...instead of just one, maybe 5 die off, maybe 10, maybe 100...etc.

Even if they are telling the truth that they weren't taunting the alligator, the boy still made the choice to swim there. It's not like the gator MADE him. He choose to swim there & paid for that decision & so did the gator. The gator already paid the price for his actions & that's what had to happen since he probably wouldn't have been afraid to attack another human. I don't believe all alligators need to be wiped off the face of the earth, not ALL alligators have attacked humans. There's probably some out there that are 20+ yrs old who have never attacked so why should they have to die for the 1 that did b/c of the humans stupid decision. If we were to kill off every species that attacked us humans, then there would be nothing left (maybe some plant eaters) & we'd have to kill off our own "species" since humans have been known to kill/attack humans ( certainly more then alligators have)

It usually allows 3 minutes after a post to fix an error.

Mees thunk u B rite.

Now see, that is sporty of you golfers. Finally a real hazard that lives up to its name.

I wonder if they ever made it to the hospital since all he can make is left hand turns now?

Well said Mack,

I can't agree more. We are not gods here. Animals will bite you. You are food. This kid learned a hard lesson. Life sucks when you get your arm bit off by an alligator.......when you swim with alligators! Brilliant!

You don't sound mean, just plain ignorant. You couldn't survive in the South. You want to spout your hatred for the South and not realize that someone's son has lost part of a limb. That's a serious injury. He was lucky to get out alive. We don't know the circumstances, just that the water was supposedly full of gators. You have no idea what mean really is, you are just a smart ass. Doesn't qualify you as mean.

but on the bright side, he does still have one arm to steer his airboat....LOL.

Agreed, he should have known better. But teens make mistakes & unfortunately he didn't take the time to think about what he was doing & lost his arm. At least he's still in good spirits, hell he's probably happy he just lost his arm & not his life. He probably (hopefully maybe) already knows that he made a bad choice that cost him his arm & a gator his life.

How else would the arm be retreived? Ask the gator to cough it up??? I can't believe the ignorance on here today, well, that's a lie, I can... it's all over the place. You'll do something not so smart one day and maybe make the news and we can all bash you for it. You must not have children.

Thats the price for this kid. Yes, you lose the arm. Sorry, life sucks when you put yourself in an alligator infested body of water. We don't own everything. Sometimes bad things happen. You play, you pay.

what are you talking about...this was ALL the gator's fault didn't you know?! He MADE the kid swim there just so he could attack him & rip off his arm. The boy isn't responsible whatsoever.............(end sarcasm)

There was those guys that got arrested for shooting an alligator in self defense... not too long ago.

What ammuniton does a prosthetic arm take, Sicken Tired? Caliber aside, I'm pretty sure we'd want hollow-points!

I agree with your sentiments.

And for all you folks that want to rag on the kid for swimming: It is well known that teenagers brains are not fully formed and they routinely make bad decisions as a result. You should be ashamed.

Well, when I was a kid, if somebody told me at any age that there are creatures in that water that will try to eat you, I would not go in. Some bad decisions have severe consequences. That's life. I'm not ashamed to tell you that the kid got exactly what he deserved. You are an embarassment. If it's not enough to comprehend that swimming with alligators is a bad idea then there is no hope for you or that kid. I'm stunned that you are that dumb.

I hear you bob-2579213, although I usually believe in animal rights etc, I imagined one of my nephews or cousins losing a limb to an alligator in Florida and I'm having a seriously hard time doing the right thing and supporting nature. I guess the real solution is to just stay away from places like Florida and take valium when I hear about these loss of limb situations. I'm a vegetarian and maybe some animal psychologist could develop a new vegetarian diet for alligators? Anyways, sometimes it's a sad world. I'm going back to sleep and hopefully this is a bad dream and I'll wake up to a world where alligators are vegetarians too! Wish me luck everyone!

Once an animal has had human blood, humans are then added to their menu. The animal tends to go out of its way to find the weaker humans and cull them out to kill and eat. The only real option is to put the animal down.

Oh jeez, Puzz quit bein a Puss! everybody knows humans are running the world and always will until alligators or whatever animal you want to team up with organize themselves and establish a form of communication and government bodies and the things necessary to overthrow us. And sure, if something man or beast eats a persons arm the culprit is put down, reference the bath salts story in Miami last month.

It is already happening here. We have a bunch of low-life snakes running every 7-11 and gas station in my neighborhood. If PETA had their way, they would go ahead and organize the government for them. I think PETA is already planning the human surender terms for us right now.