Alright, folks, buckle up because this is one of those Florida stories that sounds like something straight out of a movie—except it’s terrifyingly real. Imagine you’re out for a peaceful kayaking trip with a group of 30 people, enjoying the sunshine, the water, the fresh air… and then, out of nowhere, an alligator launches an attack.
That’s exactly what happened near the Polk-Osceola county line, where a group of kayakers suddenly found themselves in a desperate fight to save one of their own after an alligator clamped down on a woman’s arm. The frantic 911 call from an unidentified man captured the chaos as they scrambled to help her.
“She’s going into shock,” the caller told the dispatcher. “She’s in real pain.”
And if that wasn’t terrifying enough, the gator also snatched a life jacket right off another kayaker, making it clear that it wasn’t done asserting its dominance.
There is a lot to absorb here but the main takeaway is that a plastic kayak in gator thick waters is a terrible idea as is heading out into wild Florida with folks that don’t know how to communicate their location or perform simple first aid. pic.twitter.com/K6VmAbUEUU
— PhotographicFloridian (@JackLinFLL) March 5, 2025
Now, here’s where things get even more intense—when the dispatcher advised making a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, the caller revealed a major problem: the first aid kit was still in the boat, and no one wanted to get back in the water. Can you blame them? There’s a very good chance the gator was still lurking, waiting for its next move.
From their position, they couldn’t see the predator, but they could see that life jacket bobbing ominously on the surface, a strong indication that the alligator was still right beneath it. Meanwhile, the injured woman was in so much pain that she couldn’t tolerate a bandage being applied to her elbow.
At this point, the dispatcher tried to guide the group on how to get the woman to safety, but another issue emerged—the kayakers weren’t in motorboats, and there wasn’t a ramp nearby. They were deep in a marshy, brush-filled area, making any kind of movement slow and difficult.
As emergency responders worked to locate the group using the caller’s phone signal, things took a grim turn. The man on the line could tell that the woman’s condition was deteriorating.
POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A dramatic 911 call captured the tense moments after a woman was attacked by an alligator while kayaking near Tiger Creek Canal in Lake Kissimmee State Park. 🐊
The caller, part of the group, remained calm as he described the woman’s severe elbow injury and… pic.twitter.com/b8w9YUrRb8
— Everglades (@everglades) March 6, 2025
“(She is) not well,” he said. “She’s in a lot of pain, but I think she’s still responding. Weak pulse and the pulse is going down. … They’re doing everything they can.”
Talk about a nightmare scenario. With no clear way out and time slipping away, the kayakers were forced to wait for help. Finally, after 44 agonizing minutes, a helicopter spotted them. Rescuers arrived on an airboat and rushed the woman to the hospital.
