A man suffers ‘serious injuries’ after being attacked by an alligator in Florida

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

A man sustained “serious injuries to his arm” after being attacked by an alligator in Manatee County, Florida, on Wednesday.

Eric Merda, 43, of Sarasota County, was bitten by an alligator near Lake Manatee Fish Camp, according to a statement from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) shared with CNN. The camp is located along Lake Manatee, an artificial reservoir on the state’s western coast.

FWC, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and Manatee County EMS all responded to the incident, according to the FWC. Merda was transported to the hospital and FWC dispatched a contracted nuisance alligator trapper to the scene.

The attack comes less than a week after an elderly woman was killed by two alligators in a lake along a golf course in Englewood, Florida.

There have been two previous fatal alligator attacks in the US this year: In late May, a man was killed by alligators after searching for Frisbees in a Florida lake, and in June a person was killed by an alligator in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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