A woman was injured in a gator attack along James Road near Slater Road in North Fort Myers Thursday evening.
On Thursday, around 7:30 p.m., Lee County deputies responded to the scene for reports of an alligator attack.
Deputies identified the victim as Dolores Boppel, who was walking her dog near the edge of a pond when the alligator attacked her.
Lee County EMS and North Fort Myers Rescue were the first to arrive to the scene and began medical treatment on Dolores.
Boppel told Fire and EMS that she was walking her dog when a large alligator exited the water and began charging towards her.
Boppel said she threw her dog away from the gator before it grabbed her and partially dragged her into the water.
Reports say Boppel received bites to her right leg and arms during the attack. Due to her injuries, she was taken to Gulf Coast Medical Center as a trauma alert.
Deputies spoke with a witness who said she was in the shower when she heard a female screaming for help outside.
The witness said she looked outside and saw Boppel on the pond edge halfway in the water. The witness, along with other neighbors, then ran outside to help as Boppel crawled out of the pond onto the land.
According to the witness, the gator was approximately eight feet and it had been in the park within the last six weeks.
She also told deputies that she had to move her car for her own safety because the gator would be very close to her parking space each morning.
Deputies asked if anyone had witnessed neighbors feeding the gator, to which they replied "no."
Florida Fish and Wildlife arrived on the scene and began searching for the gator.
The gator was captured later in the evening and transported to the FWC facility where they say they examined it.
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