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MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 29 November 06 Florida Man Loses Arm to Alligator During Attack
Lakeland, Fla.: A 45-year-old man lost part of his left arm when an alligator attacked him early Wednesday morning, but he was alive after four sheriff's deputies jumped into muddy water and pulled him from the reptile's jaws.
The Polk County deputies were responding to multiple calls about a man yelling for help at about 4 a.m. They could not shoot the animal because it was too dark and they might have hit the victim, the sheriff's office said.
Adrian J. Apgar was taken to the hospital in critical condition with an apparent broken right arm, leg injuries and a partially amputated left arm.
The deputies — Michael Parker, Billy Osborne, David Clements and Sgt. Andrew Williams — took Apgar about 40 feet to an ambulance ashore. None of the four was injured in the gator-infested waters.
Florida Man Loses Arm to Alligator During Attack

ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 01 December 06 911 call led cops to victim of gator (Amy L. Edwards)
Carlos Mayid couldn't see Adrian Apgar being attacked by an alligator early Wednesday, but he could hear him.
With his cell phone in hand and a sheriff's operator on the line, a calm Mayid left his home near Lake Parker and walked down his street in the pre-dawn darkness toward the screams of a man who was fighting for his life in the water.
In the recording of a dramatic 911 call released Thursday, Mayid is heard breathing heavily and walking through wet grass as Apgar's repeated cries grow louder. Finally, he got close enough to yell back.
"Hey. What's up? What do you need?" Mayid hollered.
"A gator's got me," Apgar replied, his voice faint in the background.
Mayid's call shortly after 4 a.m. sent four Polk County deputies racing to the 2,150-acre lake north of U.S. Highway 92 just outside Lakeland, where they jumped into the water and literally wrenched Apgar's arm from the gator's mouth. The victim, who told authorities he had passed out nude on the shore after smoking crack cocaine, was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
Later Wednesday, state wildlife authorities trapped and killed a nearly 12-foot-long alligator thought to be the one that attacked Apgar.
Mayid's call was picked up by a sleepy-sounding operator, Josh Fulman.
"There's a guy screaming bloody murder over here, 'Help' in front of the Moose Lodge," Mayid said. He could not be reached Thursday to elaborate on his experience.
"I can hear him from inside my house. . . . He's screaming 'Help, help, help, help.' "
From the time Mayid finally talked with Apgar, a dramatic back-and-forth relay followed with Mayid serving as the middleman between victim and operator.
Fulman told Mayid that deputies were on the way, but there was little the two could do. Meanwhile, Apgar kept screaming.
The tension built.
Replying to a plea from Apgar that was inaudible on the tape, Mayid said, "I ain't going over there. I can't go in there anyway. . . . I don't know how the hell they're going to get through."
Mayid ended up getting close enough to repeatedly ask Apgar what body part the alligator had, yelling, "Help is on the way; help is on the way."
About five minutes into the nearly eight-minute call, Fulman suggested Mayid tell Apgar to punch the alligator. "I don't know if it's true, but if you punch him in the nose . . . it may let him go," he said.
Mayid relayed the message and immediately came back with Apgar's response: "Too big."
There was an audible sigh.
Said Mayid, "He says he needs a gun."
Polk County deputies arrived about two minutes later and soon reached Apgar in the water. He was naked, slumped over in the alligator's jaws in chest-deep water on the east side of Lake Parker.
After a "tug-of-war" match with the gator, three deputies and their sergeant were able to rescue Apgar and carry him to shore. The entire rescue took about 20 minutes.
Apgar told the deputies he had been smoking crack cocaine and fell asleep on the shore when the alligator attacked him. The area includes a strip of land with a picnic table.
But local and state officials said Thursday that they don't know whether Apgar was on the land or already in the water when he was attacked. Said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, "We don't know what happened."
Sheriff's officials have said Apgar, 45, of Polk City suffered a broken right arm. His left arm was nearly severed, hanging by a tendon, and he had bites to his buttocks and leg. He was in critical condition and underwent surgery Wednesday afternoon at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
A hospital spokeswoman said Apgar was alive Thursday, but a family member asked his specific condition not be released and would not talk to news reporters.
Morse said the 11-foot-9-inch, 600-pound alligator trapped several hours after the attack had been euthanized, a necessary step to protect the public.
The alligator was "much larger" than average, Morse said.
Investigators aren't positive the captured alligator was the one that attacked Apgar, but they think it is the likely culprit because it was the only gator feeding in that area.
They did not perform a necropsy on the animal because Apgar is not missing limbs.
"Everybody who comes in contact with that alligator is at risk," Morse said. "Alligators don't normally attack people. When they do, something is amiss."
Online Extra: 'Help! A gator's got me!': Hear the 911 call, plus see photos and video at OrlandoSentinel.com/gatorattack
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-gatorfolo0106dec01,0,7786374.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

THE LEDGER (Lakeland, Florida) 01 December 06 Wildlife Official Reminds: No Feeding Gators - Someone is seen doling out food to a reptile at the same lake where a man was just attacked. (Gabrielle Finley)
Lakeland: As if a horrific lesson wasn't learned Wednesday when a monstrous alligator nearly killed a Polk City man at Lake Parker, someone was seen feeding an alligator early Thursday - at the same lake.
"They're jeopardizing everyone who comes in contact with that alligator," said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the agency that received the call.
Feeding alligators is not only illegal, Morse said, but when fed, gators learn to associate people with food.
Adrian J. Apgar, 45, tangled with an alligator early Wednesday morning before Polk County sheriff's deputies freed him from the reptile's grasp.
Morse said he wouldn't speculate on how rare it is for someone to escape death when attacked by an alligator, but there are cases where people have survived "serious attacks."
As for how Apgar came in contact with the nearly 12-foot alligator and the events leading up to his rescue, investigators "may never be able to tell," Morse said.
Morse said his agency is in charge of the investigation and said they are interviewing witnesses, but he wouldn't elaborate.
Morse said he couldn't release Apgar's condition Thursday because of patient privacy laws, but he said investigators weren't able to talk to Apgar.
Apgar was severely wounded by the alligator, and the bacteria in the alligator's mouth and in the lake's muddy waters can be deadly, Morse said Thursday.
The 250-pound truck driver was in critical condition Wednesday after undergoing surgery at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.
Apgar's left arm was nearly severed and his right arm was broken, officials said. He was also bitten in the buttocks and upper leg.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Apgar was nude when he was found and he told deputies he had been smoking crack cocaine when he was attacked by the alligator.
Trappers baited an animal that matched a description given by deputies and was killed Wednesday, Morse said.
Usually, investigators are able to cross-reference the person's bite wounds with the structure of the alligator's teeth, but Apgar has more "tear wounds" than bite wounds, Morse said.
And Morse said "there's virtually no possibility" of checking for the alligator's DNA in Apgar because doctors have thoroughly cleaned the wounds.
"We have the confidence that this is the right alligator. We are one of the world's leading experts on alligator behavior. We have an awful lot of expertise," Morse said.
Morse said he didn't know how they killed the alligator.
"We had to kill that alligator," Morse said.
"We had no choice. We have to protect the public."
The Ledger received angry e-mails and online forum comments about the agency's decision to kill the alligator rather than move it to an alligator farm or another lake.
"Once an alligator attacks someone, it will attack others," Morse said. "It would most likely hurt and kill other alligators."
Fish and Wildlife are familiar with people concerned about the agency having trappers kill alligators that attack people, Morse said.
"We make sound biological decisions and always take into account the safety of the public.
"People are so disconnected with nature and they don't understand. It takes a lot of experience and education. (People) have to trust our judgment."
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061201/NEWS/612010396/1004

THE LEDGER (Lakeland, Florida) 14 December 06 Alligator-Man Encounter Is Still a Mystery
More than two weeks after Adrian Apgar, 45, was attacked by an alligator in Lake Parker, investigators remain in the dark about the events that led to the attack.
Apgar hasn't been interviewed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. His family has requested that information about his medical condition not be released
"Investigators haven't been able to talk to Apgar," said Gary Morse, spokesman for the wildlife agency.
Apgar was seriously injured Nov. 29 when he was attacked by an alligator in Lake Parker in Lakeland. Polk County sheriff's deputies went into the lake and pulled him away from the alligator.
Apgar, of Polk City, was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. He told deputies he was smoking crack cocaine before he was attacked, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Alligator-Man Encounter Is Still a Mystery