Florida man bitten and attacked by 10-foot alligator while hunting hogs with his wife

Florida man bitten and attacked by 10-foot alligator while hunting hogs with his wife

Florida man bitten and attacked by 10-foot alligator while hunting hogs with his wife

A Florida man was rushed to hospital on Saturday after a morning of hog hunting with his wife ended with an alligator bite to the leg.

Summary:

• James G. Boyce, 46, was bitten on his right leg while hunting in the DuPuis Management Area on Saturday
• Authorities were called, and, following an hour long search, Boyce was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach for treatment
• His wife, Terisa Boyce, said her husband underwent emergency surgery and is now in a stable condition
• Boyce had been hog hunting in the DuPuis reserve when the attack occurred
• A witness told authorities that the gator responsible was around 10 feet long 

According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the man was attacked in a wildlife area along the border of Martin and Palm Beach counties. Police reported the man sustained a substantial injury to his leg and needed immediate assistance.

In video footage shared by the sheriff’s office, Martin County Fire Rescue’s emergency responders can be seen locating the man in a dense marsh area. He was transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, the Sun Sentinel reports. Police report that a witness said the alligator was around 10 feet long. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) identified the man as 46-year-old James Boyce, CBS12 reports. A statement released by the FWC confirmed that Boyce was hog hunting with his wife at the time “Serious injuries caused by alligators are rare in Florida,” a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement. “Alligators are a conservation success story … They help keep aquatic animal populations in balance and keep water holes open for other fish and wildlife.” The man’s rescue required help from onlookers before he was located in the marsh. According to Newsweek, witness Danny McClelland said Boyce was “bleeding profusely” and that he used zip ties on the man’s injury as a tourniquet. Another witness, Tyler Schwalm, shared images of his vehicle and a video of the airlift procedure on social media. “Probably only good time I’ll ever have law enforcement on my buggy lol,” he wrote. A local animal trapper, Mike Kimmel, told CBS12 the alligator likely bit Boyce out of self-defence after being disturbed or accidentally stepped on. Boyce was hunting on land partly operated by the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area. The organization shared the sheriff department’s rescue video, adding: “Great job to those that helped get the injured man out. Some hero’s [sic] don’t wear capes … they wear orange!” The Tampa Bay Times reported last year that alligator attacks are on the rise in the southern U.S. state. The news outlet cited an Inside Science study that says gator attacks “have been on the rise, increasing from an average of just one every three years between 1988 and 1999 to about seven per year between 2000 and 2016.” The man’s wife, Terisa Boyce, told the Sun Sentinel that her husband was in stable condition on Sunday night.

A hunter who had to be airlifted from a Florida national reserve over the weekend when a large alligator attacked him and left him with a ‘substantial’ leg injury has now been identified by authorities. James G. Boyce, 46, was bitten on his right leg while hunting in the DuPuis Management Area on Saturday, which bridges between southwestern Martin County and northwestern Palm Beach County. Authorities were called, and, following an hour long search, Boyce was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach for treatment. His wife, Terisa Boyce, told the Palm Beach Post later Sunday that her husband had undergone emergency surgery and was in a stable condition.

The 46-year-old had been hog hunting in the DuPuis reserve when the attack occurred. A witness told authorities that the gator responsible was around 10 feet long. Officials said a man in a swamp buggy was able to pull Boyce to safety and the two called for help on a cellphone, but it took authorities a while to find the men in the dense marshland area, which stretches 21,875 acres. Officers from the Martin County Fire Rescue crew searched desperately for the man for more than an hour when the call first came in, but their initial hunt came up empty.

Rescuers were eventually able to locate the man in heavy marsh in the DuPuis Management Area. Boyce had suffered a ‘substantial injury’ to his leg and needed immediate assistance, the Martin County Sheriff's Office said. His step-daughter, Kristeena Richards, has set up a GoFundMe page to help with Boyce’s medical costs. According to Richards, the small business owner has a ‘long road of recovery ahead’. ‘Opening day for hunting is supposed to be like any other day, but filled with hopes of triumph and bragging rights! For James it turned into a nightmare,’ Richards wrote on the page. ‘He was attacked by an alligator and needed to be airlifted to a nearby hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He is currently recovering but will need to stay in the hospital for a few days to ensure no infections set in.’ Richards goes on to describe Boyce as an ‘extremely’ hard working man, who owns two business to support his family. ‘As a small business owner he doesn’t have the luxury many of us have with company medical insurance,’ she continued. ‘These next few months are going to be difficult enough for them without having to worry about how they are going to cover their day to day expenses as well as the mountain of bills they will be racking up.’ In a statement, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said serious injuries caused by alligators – such as those suffered by Boyce – are rare. ‘Alligators are an important part of Florida’s wetlands,’ the department said. ‘They help keep aquatic animal populations in balance and keep water holes open for other fish and wildlife.’

The FWC said it’s estimated that as many as 1.3 million alligators live in Florida’s freshwater lakes, low-moving rivers and wetlands. Alligators may also be found in brackish water habitats or anywhere there is standing water. Florida wildlife officials have launched an investigation into the incident.