Day at US Lake Turns Into Screams as Vicious 12-Foot Monster Switches to Attack Mode
A Girl Scout troop in Texas got the scare of their lives when a huge alligator came swimming up in stealth mode looking to make an afternoon snack out of one of the swimmers.
The swimmers fled the designated swimming area in terror at Huntsville State Park Raven Lake in Houston, Texas, on Sept. 9, according to KHOU-TV.
Video shows the swimmers from Girl Scout Troop 114204 looking warily at the 14-foot-long alligator, then quickly making their way out of the water.
“Look at how big it is,” a man can be heard saying on the video supplied to KHOU by the public.
“I was thinking, this is the day I die,” 11-year-old Ava Miller told KPRC-TV. “It was moving faster than us, or about the same.”
“There was no doubt in my mind that that alligator was not going to try and eat somebody,” troop leader Nichole Glenn added.
Glenn said that she rushed the girls out of the water and put herself between the fleeing swimmers and the menacing gator.
“I always say that I love them to death. I always say I would do anything for them. Now, I definitely know I would do anything for them,” Glenn said.
KHOU noted that officials have warned that the lake is a “known spot” for alligators and that there are signs posted near the beach telling the public to swim at their own risk.
Officials also added that alligators usually have a fear of humans and generally steer clear, but the creatures can become emboldened if people throw food at them and get the gators used to approaching humans for food.
It is also somewhat rare — though not unheard of — for gators to chase humans. They can move very quickly, too. Gators can reach up to 35 miles per hour on land.
KHOU also noted that feeding alligators is against the law in Texas.
Authorities told KPRC that they are contemplating putting up more signs to warn about the gators and said a local park ranger gives “gator talks” every weekend at the nature center to inform visitors about the creatures.
The official also explained what the rope and buoy lines in the water mean.
“One outlines the entire area within the lake and only swimming is allowed in this area,” the official said. “The second buoy line is an indicator of the shallow area and the deeper area. There is no net in the area and there never has been in all the years the area has been open to the public.”
Police have closed the lake’s swimming area out of caution. But fortunately, no one was injured in last week’s encounter at the Texas lake.
This is not always the case, though.
In February, an 85-year-old Florida woman was attacked and killed by a gator that lunged out of the water and grabbed her by the legs. Witnesses said she was walking her dog and tried to keep the gator from taking her puppy.
While that woman lost her life trying to save her dog from a gator, a 75-year-old woman in Florida was able to fight off a gator that came for her dog. Still, as she intervened to stop the gator, the huge reptile lunged at her and put deep gashes in her hand.
In August, a 29-year-old soccer player was killed by a gator in the Canas River in Costa Rica when he ended up in the jaws of a gator after jumping into the river from a bridge.
The lesson is that alligators are not cuddly little pets and are not to be trifled with. They are vicious killers who are usually apex predators in their environment. If you see a gator, back away and leave the area immediately.
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