Quick-Thinking Boater Intervenes After Woman Loses Arm in Silver River Alligator Attack

A boater’s rapid response likely prevented a fatality when a woman lost her arm during an alligator encounter Saturday on the Silver River near Ocala, Florida. The woman was swimming with a group when she spotted an approaching alligator and attempted to defend herself with a paddle, but the animal seized her right arm and pulled her beneath the surface.

John Gamache was eating lunch aboard his boat with his father when the commotion caught his attention. Upon seeing an alligator’s head breach the water approximately 200 feet away and rush toward the swimmers, Gamache immediately piloted his vessel toward the group, causing the animal to retreat.

The injury Gamache discovered was severe, with bone exposed and significant bleeding. He used rope from his boat to create a tourniquet around her injured arm while his father assisted in removing other swimmers, including children, from the water and into the boat.

Gamache transported the group to a nearby boat launch where emergency responders waited. The woman survived the attack, was discharged from the hospital, and recovered at home, though she permanently lost her right arm.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers located and removed a 9-foot-8-inch alligator from the area. The location reopened to the public on Sunday.

The incident comes approximately one month after another local woman, Brittany Clark, 31, died following an alligator attack at Little Big Eco State Forest near Orlando. Clark was attacked in the Econlockhatchee River in early July when an alligator severed one arm and nearly removed the other as she knelt in three feet of water.