Residents living along a quiet southeast Cape Coral canal are accustomed to spotting dolphins and stingrays in the water, but a headless alligator? That was a first.
Gloria Baenen discovered the unusual sight while near her pontoon boat on Tuesday, after noticing a strong, fishy odor.
“I said, well, someone said there was a gator but no head,” Baenen recalled. “When I went to check, I found it — belly-up, floating near the boat.”
The alligator, which was missing both its head and tail, drifted away shortly afterward. Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) searched the surrounding canals but initially came up empty, speculating the carcass may have been stuck beneath Baenen’s boat.
“Outside here, we see stingrays and dolphins numerous times,” Baenen said. “Never a gator — and never like this.”
A search team, aided by scent dogs, later located the alligator again. The decomposing body, now largely skeletal, was found in shallow water, swarming with flies.
“Yeah, because it stinks,” Baenen noted. “I don't understand how a headless alligator could be so newsworthy, but it’s kind of cool.”
Despite curiosity, the discovery has raised concerns among neighbors about how the alligator died — and whether it was the result of poaching.
“I hope that whoever did it, if it was poached, they get caught,” Baenen said. “That’s not a good thing.”
FWC officers removed the remains from the canal Thursday afternoon and relocated the body to deeper waters to allow for natural decomposition.
Officials say the incident is under active investigation.
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