Child ‘brutally mauled by alligator’ as traps set as much as ‘seize vicious beast’

Traps have been set up to capture an alligator that mauled a child while they were swimming in a prohibited body of water in Florida on Labor Day, with the youngster rushed to hospital

A child has been rushed to hospital after being brutally mauled by an alligator while swimming in Florida on Labor Day.

The child, whose age and sex were have not been released, was bitten on the arm and leg by the gator which is estimated to be between nine and 12 feet long, Hernando County Sheriff’s Office revealed. The child was swimming in a preserve where paddling is banned.

The youngster was said to be stranded on a sandbar in the Weeki Wachee Preserve with several other children Monday afternoon and they were unable to make it back to the mainland. Hernando County Fire Rescue rushed in to rescue the kids using an airboat to take them back to shore before giving necessary medical care.

One child was rushed to Bayonet Point Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the county sheriff’s office said.

A licensed Florida wildlife trapper responded to the scene and placed traps in the hopes of capturing the beast responsible for the attack, reports NYP.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has now launched an investigation into the swimming violation. Authorities have now warned people to follow the rules at waterways in the state and to exercise extreme caution.

The sheriff’s office said: “Do not swim in areas where swimming is prohibited.”

The Weeki Wachee Preserve spans over 11,200 acres in west-central Florida, and is located about 50 miles north of Tampa.

Southwest Florida Water Management District says of the preserve on its website “no swimming allowed in any of the lakes.”

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.