WELLINGTON, MA : Alligator bites woman after she accidentally steps on it in Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, 5th September 2019

A woman was bitten by an alligator Thursday morning at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue authorities said.

Kelsey Pollack, 31, was working as a contractor for the South Florida Water Management District when she accidentally stepped on an alligator and it bit her leg about 10:45 a.m. Thursday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a statement.

Her injuries were not life-threatening, the FWC said. Palm Beach County Fire Rescue crews took her to an area hospital for treatment. She released and taken home Thursday afternoon, water management district spokesman Randy Smith said.

FWC is investigating the incident. The refuge, west of Boynton Beach and south of Wellington, is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Pollack was working with a South Florida Water Management District employee when the bite happened, Smith said.

They were working in the Loxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment, or LILA, a living laboratory south of Lee Road, the main access road from State Road 7 into the refuge, Smith said.

“They were in an area that’s not open to the public,” he said.

The workers were walking to a tree island when Pollack was bitten, Smith said.

Source