Florida alligator assault statistics: What FWC information reveals after Seminole County swimmer’s dying

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A 31-year-old Orlando girl died Sunday after an encounter with an alligator whereas she was swimming with associates close to the Econlockhatchee River on the Barr Street Trailhead, in keeping with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The assault has renewed consideration on a long time of FWC information monitoring one in every of Florida’s most harmful wildlife encounters.

“Serious injuries caused by alligators are rare in Florida,” FWC mentioned in an official assertion following the incident.

The information, nevertheless, tells a nuanced story — one which factors to bigger animals as essentially the most vital consider Florida’s deadliest encounters.

500 unprovoked bites recorded since 1948

FWC has tracked unprovoked alligator bites in Florida since 1948. Through February 2026, the company recorded 500 whole unprovoked bites statewide — 346 categorised as main, 153 as minor, and 32 confirmed deadly previous to the June 28 incident.

All bites included within the FWC abstract are thought of unprovoked, outlined as assaults by wild alligators not provoked by dealing with or intentional harassment. Major bites are outlined as accidents requiring medical care past first support. Minor bites are outlined as superficial accidents requiring no remedy past first support.

Bite totals have risen lately

Annual chunk totals have fluctuated over the a long time, however latest years replicate a notable upward development as Florida’s human inhabitants has grown and leisure use of pure areas has elevated.

Florida recorded 23 whole unprovoked bites in 2023 — the best single-year whole in additional than a decade — together with two fatalities. The years 2024 and 2025 every noticed further incidents, with 11 and 13 whole bites recorded, respectively.

Two deaths have been recorded in 2025 alone: Cynthia Diekema, 61, killed whereas canoeing on Tiger Creek in Lake Wales in May, and Deborah Herndon, 73, discovered deceased at a residential pond in Palm Harbor in October.

The 10-year interval from 2016 by means of 2025 produced 116 whole unprovoked bites and 10 fatalities — accounting for almost one-third of all recorded deadly assaults in Florida’s historical past.

Large gators concerned in Florida’s deadliest assaults

Of the 32 confirmed deadly assaults on document previous to June 28, the accountable alligators in instances the place measurement was recorded ranged from 6 ft, 8 inches to 13 ft, 8 inches. The sample is evident: the bigger the alligator, the larger the chance of a deadly consequence.

The largest alligator concerned in a beforehand recorded deadly Florida assault measured 13 ft, 8 inches — a male answerable for the September 2023 dying of Sabrina Peckham, 41, discovered at McKay Creek in Largo. The two alligators captured following the June 28 assault — measuring 13 ft and 12-and-a-half ft — fall on the very high of that historic measurement vary.

Several different deadly assaults concerned alligators of 12 ft or extra:

• A 12-foot, 4-inch male killed 54-year-old Janie Melsek whereas she was landscaping close to a pond in Sanibel in 2004.

• A 12-foot, 4-inch male killed 47-year-old Shizuka Matzuki whereas she walked her canines alongside a lake in Davie in 2018.

• A 12-foot, 3-inch male killed 20-year-old Michelle Reeves whereas she was swimming in a retention pond in Lee County in 2004.

• A 12-foot, 2-inch male killed 41-year-old Kevin Murray whereas he was swimming in a canal in Port Charlotte in 2005.

Not each deadly assault has concerned a record-sized animal, nevertheless. A 6-foot, 8-inch alligator was answerable for the October 2025 dying of 73-year-old Deborah Herndon at a residential pond in Palm Harbor. A 6-foot, 6-inch male killed 2-year-old Alexandria Murphy at Lake Cannon in Polk County in 2001. Even a 7-foot male was answerable for the 1977 dying of George Leonard in Charlotte County after Leonard was bitten whereas swimming within the Peace River Canal.

FWC urges warning in all Florida freshwater our bodies

FWC Lt. Grant Eller supplied an easy advisory for anybody close to Florida’s waterways following the June 28 incident.

“All freshwater bodies in the state of Florida do contain alligators — just use caution when swimming in freshwater,” Eller mentioned.

FWC Public Information Officer Chad Weber echoed that message, noting the chance is statewide — not confined to any single location.

“In the state of Florida, we have alligators in all 67 counties — every body of water could potentially have an alligator in it,” Weber mentioned.

FWC administers the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program to handle complaints about alligators believed to pose a menace to folks, pets or property. Anyone with considerations a few particular alligator can name the Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 1-866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286), and a contracted trapper can be dispatched to resolve the state of affairs.