EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. – An alligator bit off the hand of an Everglades airboat captain Tuesday in front of startled tourists, NBC station WBBH reported.

The victim, Wallace Weatherholt, 63, works for Captain Doug's Everglades Tours in Everglades City, according to WBBH of Fort Myers.

The gator was captured and killed after the attack so the man's hand could be retrieved from the animal's stomach, Florida Fish and Wildlife officers said. The hand was sent to NCH Hospital in Naples, where the victim was taken after the attack, but it is unclear if doctors were able to reattach it.

Based on witness accounts, wildlife officials suspect Weatherholt may have illegally fed the 9-foot gator. Despite having his hand bit off, Weatherholt could be charged with second-degree misdemeanor and face up to six months in jail if found guilty. An investigation is ongoing and officers asked any additional witnesses to come forward.

"I was kind of freaked out about that because that's kind of weird," said Everglades City resident Sarah Goff. "You don't feed them. They can get used to that and get aggressive."

See the original story at NBC-2.com, WBBH

Neighbors told WBBH the victim is a very kind man.

"He was a nice guy and I'm really sorry for what happened to him," said Olga Pereira.

Wildlife officers say the unfortunate incident is a reminder of why it is illegal to touch, harass or feed alligators.

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For at least the sixth time since October, someone has dismembered a cat and left its remains on a golf course on the Florida coast, authorities said Friday. Each time, the killer has left a grotesque scene that witnesses liken to a horror movie.

The body parts of another cat were found Thursday strewn on the 14th fairway of the Port Charlotte Golf Club, the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said.

The incidents began in October, when cat carcasses were twice found on the course. The sheriff's office got involved after the legs of a third cat were discovered in the middle of the fairway to the first hole on Oct 30.

Then, on Nov. 17, three more cats were found on the greens. Their paws had been cut off and their stomachs were turned inside out. One of the cats' body parts were then placed on the fairway as if the killer was trying to reassemble them.

"I'm almost in disbelief," Patti Page, who lives near the course, told NBC station WBBH of Fort Myers on Friday after the latest incident. "Who could do such a dreadful thing, and why?"

The Sheriff's Office says it doesn't know, and it asked anyone with information to call it at 941-639-2101.

After the especially gruesome discovery Nov. 17, the Sheriff's Office warned that the cold and methodical approach of the killer — who leaves no blood behind, indicating that he or she is killing and dismembering the cats elsewhere and taking them specifically to the golf course — could be capable of much worse.

Bob Carpenter, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, cited serial killers like Ted Bundy and said, "Everything that came from those cases was that they started killing animals like this — killing small pets."

Golf course workers said one of the victims wore a collar with the name "Misty" — indicating that the cat was indeed someone's pet, WBBH reported.

This article includes reporting from msnbc.com staff and NBC station WBBH of Fort Myers.

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