Alligator bites woman at wildlife refuge, officials say

BOYNTON BEACH – A woman was bitten by an alligator after accidentally stepping on it while working at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, officials say.

Kelsey Pollack, 31, was doing contract work at the refuge — located at 10216 Lee Road, west of Boynton Beach — according to Tammy Sapp, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is investigating the incident.

It happened at about 10:45 a.m. in an area called the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assesment (LILA), a living laboratory where researchers have recreated different habitats of the Everglades for study, said Rolf Olson, project leader at the refuge.

LILA is a partnership between the South Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Pollack was taken to Delray Medical Center for cuts and bruises, according to WPTV-Ch. 5, which also reported that she was wearing waders during the incident.

The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is a 147,000-acre wildlife sanctuary that includes the most northern reaches of the Everglades.

While the state’s alligator population is estimated at 1.3 million alligators of every size, serious injuries caused by the reptile are rare in Florida, Sapp said.

Last year, a 12-foot-6-inch alligator killed a Plantation woman as she walked her dogs along the bank of a lake at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park. One of her arms was later found inside the reptile.

In 2007, a 36-year-old man died while swimming across a pond when a gator “seized and drowned” him in the water at the Miccosukee Indian reservation in west Miami. The year before, an alligator killed a 28-year-old woman at the North New River Canal in Sunrise.

Generally, a gator can be labeled a nuisance if it’s at least 4 feet long and is believed to pose a threat to people or pets. Such alligators have recently shown up strolling along a sidewalk in front of people’s homes and swimming down flooded streets.

People concerned about an alligator in their area should call the commission’s alligator nuisance hotline at 866-FWCGATOR (866-392-4286).

PALM BEACH COUNTY FIRE RESCUE/COURTESY An alligator bit a woman on the leg at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said.