Hey Doc, hope you are OK

[dan_bgblue]

A bicyclist suffered serious injuries after being severely bitten by a large alligator while on trail ride.

The man was riding his bike on a trail at Halpatiokee Park in Stuart around 11:00am, when he lost control of his bike and fell into a body of water about six feet down an embankment. The female gator, which measured about 9-feet, grabbed ahold of the man severely injuring him. The cyclist was able to break free then crawl to an area where he was assisted by a bystander.

[Catfan73]

Dayum. 9 feet.

[suncat05]

I saw that on the news here in Titusville yesterday. 9 foot gator? That's a big 'un there!

The news didn't say exactly where it happened, just that it was in Martin County.

[Doc]

No joke.... we walk that path every Sat. If you ever on my facebook page, you will see the Great Dane walks we do every Sat (although I have not been often recently due to surgery), those are in Halpaliokee park, and we walk to that very boat ramp. My dogs often swim in those waters, however we scope for gators before they go in. Additionally we kayak that waterway on occasion looking for gators.

My suspicion is the guy did not fall off his bike into the water as reported. I suspect he either came upon the gator by surprise and freaked then fell over allowing the gator to get him, or he saw it and decided to mess with it. As a follow up, he was airlifted to the hospital. Apparently it was pretty bad wound

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/lo...ay/8015606002/

Now if accurate, I can understand him falling on that bridge. It is an old rickety wooden one but does have handrails

[Doc]

They have closed the trails pending an environmental evaluation. Not sure what that means as we know there are gators there, and have been since the park opened. And it's not like you can get rid of them since the park is on the Okeechobee waterway (is on the South Fork of the St Lucie river)