A child was rushed to hospital in Florida after being attacked by an alligator while swimming in a restricted nature reserve.

According to the sheriff’s office in Hernando County, Florida, the incident happened on September 7 at the Weeki Wachee Preserve in Spring Hill.

Officials said that the victim, who has not been identified, sustained puncture wounds to the leg and arm from the alligator, estimated to be between nine and 12-feet long.

The child, along with several others, then became stranded on a sandbar in the preserve, and were unable to make it back to the mainland.

They were eventually rescued by Hernando County Fire Rescue, whose Marine Unit were able to reach them by airboat and bring them to safety while attending to the victim.

The child was later treated in Bayonet Point hospital, with their injuries said to be non life-threatening.

A local wildlife trapper has since placed traps for the alligator, while the incident has also led local authorities to highlight the dangers of swimming in areas which are off-limits.

‘The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) responded to the scene and is handling the investigation related to the swimming violation,’ Hernando County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on their Facebook page.

‘For your safety, please use extreme caution around waterways and follow all posted rules and restrictions. Do not swim in areas where swimming is prohibited.’

The incident is the latest in a string of alligator and crocodile attacks which have been reported across the US and other parts of the world in recent months.

Earlier this week, a wildlife park worker in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, died after being mauled by a crocodile that reportedly refused to release him for an hour as others fought to save him.

The handler was feeding the animal at the city’s Adventure Park when it clamped its jaws around his legs, dragged him down and performed a ‘death roll’ inside the enclosure.

Another worker entered the enclosure and struck the crocodile on the head to try to loosen its grip, while a visitor pushed a long pole through the surrounding fence, but their efforts failed to free the injured man.

Police eventually opened fire on the animal, with witnesses saying officers had to shoot it 11 times before it finally died and they could free the handler — who later died in hospital from his injuries.

Tragedy also struck Florida in July when a woman was mauled to death by a 13ft alligator while hiking in Little Big Econ State Forest, just northeast of Orlando.

Brittany Clark, 31, had stopped with her group to swim in the Econlockhatchee River before the attack occurred, with the creature grabbing her arm and dragging her into a death roll.

Despite her boyfriend Chance Allison wrestling with the alligator and pulling her from the water, risking his own life in the process, she suffered catastrophic injuries to both arms and died on the way to hospital.

A further attack in Florida in August saw 58-year-old Dina Rae Spann lose her right arm after being attacked and dragged underwater by an alligator while swimming with her family in Silver River.

According to the Daily Mail, she tried to fight the reptile off with a paddle before it dragged her beneath the surface and bit into her right arm before eventually releasing her — leaving her with catastrophic upper limb injuries.

In the same month triathlete Jonathan Burney revealed how he escaped an attack in South Carolina by pushing his left thumb into the alligator’s eye to force it to let go.

He was later treated at the scene for a four-to-five inch wound on his arm, but declined an ambulance ride.

Despite all these recent incidents, alligator attacks on humans remain relatively rare — even in Florida which is home to over 1.3m of them.

The Florida Wildlife Commission has recorded around 500 unprovoked bites since records began being kept in 1948, with only 32 of these proving fatal as of 2026.

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