NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 22 July 04 Woman remains critical after gator attack - 12-foot reptile drags landscaper into pond (Sarah Lundy)
A Sanibel landscaper who lost part of her right arm Wednesday when a 12-foot alligator dragged her into a pond remained in critical condition Thursday morning.
Janie Melsek, 54, was working on a vacation rental at 3061 Poinciana Circle. She was at the water’s edge about 10 feet from the house when the 400-pound-plus alligator lunged at her and clamped down on her right arm, pulling her into the water.
Jim Anholt, 61, who lives across the street, heard her screams around 12:30 p.m. and ran to help.
“The lady was in the pond and the alligator had ahold of her and just her face was showing,” he said Wednesday evening.
While a neighbor called 911, Anholt held on to Melsek’s neck to keep her head above water. Three Sanibel police officers arrived and also tried to get her out of the pond.
“It was kind of a tug-of-war,” Anholt said. While her rescuers struggled for about five minutes to pull her out of the water, Melsek told them that she was caught up in some vines. She told them that the alligator “had her” by the buttocks and by her arm, according to a police report.
Anholt said Melsek yelled to them to cut her arm off and get her out of there.
“It seemed like hours but I know it wasn’t,” he said.
Suddenly, Melsek came free, and rescue personnel pulled her onto the bank and began treating her.
“Her right arm was torn up,” Anholt said.
Officers soon saw the alligator’s tail appear about 20 feet away. The gator surfaced and opened its mouth, heading toward the group on the bank, police reported.
Sanibel Lt. James Phillips then gave the command to shoot the alligator, and Sgt. William Dalton and Detective Frank Crandon shot the gator, which rolled suddenly and quickly swam away.
A short time later, the alligator appeared again about 100 feet away at the edge of the pond.
Phillips and Crandon fired again, killing it, according to a police report.
Authorities pulled the alligator up on the ground and examined it, noting two gunshot wounds to its head. It measured 12 feet, 3 inches long and took six men to lift it into a truck to be taken to the Sanibel Police Department.
The gator will be transferred to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission office in Lakeland. There, officials will perform a necropsy. They’ll also investigate to see if the alligator had been fed.
The vacationers renting the house were not there at the time and could not be reached for comment.
Melsek, who has worked as a landscape architect for more than 20 years, underwent six hours of surgery at Lee Memorial Hospital on Wednesday evening.
Doctors had to amputate her arm midway between her elbow and her wrist, said her brother, Lee Melsek of Fort Myers Beach. He is a reporter for The News-Press.
“The gator bite almost severed her arm,” he said, adding that his sister suffered extensive damage to her buttocks and inner thighs.
“Doctors believe she will walk again,” he said after Janie Melsek came out of surgery at 8 p.m.
The 12-footer was unusually large, said FWC officer Dave Jennings.
“I’ve caught plenty of alligators and that’s a big alligator,” Jennings said.
Jim Anholt of Sanibel shows where he saw Janie Melsek being held by a 12-foot alligator during an attack across from his home. MARC BEAUDIN/news-press.com
Anholt said he wasn’t sure if this was the large alligator that generally lives in the pond; female gators are there from time to time but they usually stay on the refuge side of the pond instead of coming to the side where the homes are.
“We all know they are there and we respect them,” he said.
Jennings said most alligator attacks are either provoked or the animal was fed by people and therefore lost its fear of humans. The first appeared unlikely and the latter was unknown Wednesday.
This is the second attack in Sanibel this year.
A 9-foot, 7-inch alligator bit Jane C. Keefer, 74, on April 21 as she gardened in the back yard of her Blue Heron Drive home. Her husband, William, heard her scream and grabbed her from the lagoon that borders their backyard.
Jane Keefer suffered bites to her left leg and hand and was released from HealthPark Medical Center the next day.
Southwest Florida Gator Attacks
• April 2004: Jane C. Keefer, 74, of Sanibel, was bitten on her left leg and hand while she gardened in her back yard that is bordered by a pond.
• February 2003: Helena Couto, 70, of Englewood lost part of her arm when an alligator bit her. She was trimming palmettos by a pond near her home.
• April 2002: Stephanie Feola, 43, of Port Charlotte struck an alligator while driving home. The alligator reacted by biting through her bumper and lifting the car’s front end off the ground.
• Sept. 11, 2001: Robert Steele, 81, bled to death after an 11-foot alligator severed his leg below the knee. It was the first fatal attack by an alligator in Lee County since 1948. Steele was walking his dog between two swampy canals on Sanibel at the time.
• 1988: Erin Glover, 4, was killed by a 10-foot alligator while she was walking along the shore at Hidden Lake in Charlotte County.
• 1977: George Leonard, 52, was killed by an 8-foot alligator while swimming in the Peace River.
Woman remains critical after gator attack