Alligator Bites Off Arm of Fla. Man
Alligator Bites Off Arm of Florida Botanical Gardens Director, Doctors Can't Reattach It
GAINESVILLE, Fla. Sept. 24 ? An 11-foot alligator tore the right arm off the director of a botanical garden as he was weeding a pond. Surgeons were unable to reattach it.
Don Goodman was working Monday in a water lily garden at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens when the alligator bit his right arm off from just below his elbow, said Justin Lagotic, spokesman for Alachua County Fire Rescue.
About an hour after the attack, wildlife officials harpooned the male alligator, known as Mo-Jo by garden employees, said John Duncan, an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Authorities then shot the alligator and slit his stomach open, finding Goodman's arm inside. Officials took the arm to Shands Hospital at the University of Florida but doctors could not reattach it, botanical garden spokeswoman Barbara Bennett said.
Goodman was in fair condition Tuesday morning, hospital officials
said.
The gator probably attacked because it mistook Goodman's hand for another animal, said Gabe Duclos, a gardener at Kanapaha.
This is the first alligator attack at the park, employees said.
Goodman has been the director of the gardens since 1978. The 62-acre park is owned by Alachua County and maintained by the North Florida Botanical Society.
