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A Florida woman who was mauled to death by a 13ft alligator was freed from its grip by her boyfriend and still had a faint pulse when rescuers reached her.
Brittany Clark, 31, died on the way to hospital despite Chance Allison wrestling with the animal and impressively managing to pull her from the water — risking his own life in the process.
The couple had been hiking with friends and Brittany’s dogs in Little Big Econ State Forest, which is just northeast of Orlando, on June 28.
Their group stopped to swim in the Econlockhatchee River before the attack occurred.
Brittany was standing in around three feet of water when the alligator lunged and grabbed her arm. It pulled her into a death roll, violently spinning through the water while holding tightly on to her.
Chance bravely tried to wrestle the animal away from his girlfriend but was dragged into the water himself.
The alligator briefly released Brittany before attacking again and biting her other arm.
Chance continued fighting the reptile and eventually managed to free her from the gator’s grip. The alligator eventually retreated, but Brittany had already suffered incredibly severe injuries.
Chance and Brittany’s best friend then pulled her to the riverbank while other members of the group called 911. Recordings captured the panic as they waited for emergency crews to arrive.
‘Bad, real bad please, hurry… she’s losing a lot of… please hurry,’ one caller told the dispatcher.
When asked how severe Brittany’s injuries were, the caller replied: ‘Horrible.’
The caller went on to explain that both of her arms had been very badly injured. A medical examiner’s report said Brittany suffered a partially severed left arm and an open fracture to her right arm, according to Fox11.
First responders detected a faint pulse before rushing her to hospital. Brittany died during the journey and was officially pronounced dead at 2.48pm, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Wildlife officers reportedly captured and killed two alligators found near the scene of the attack. One measured 12.5ft and the other was 13ft long.
DNA testing has since confirmed that the larger of the two animals killed Brittany. Officials haven’t said what might have caused it to attack.
Chance later paid tribute to Brittany on Facebook, writing: ‘I’m just still in disbelief of what took place. We had so many things planned out and memories to be made.
‘You were such a special person and did not deserve to go out in such a way. I love you and don’t worry about shady and hokie I’ll take care of them.’
Shady and Hokie are Brittany’s much-loved dogs, who had accompanied the group on their fateful hike. Chance went on to promise that he’d look after them ‘forever’.
Chance told The New York Post: ‘While we were waiting for emergency services to arrive Brittany just told me to make sure I took care of Hokie.
‘It was one of the last things she said to me. I can’t recall anything else.’
Officials noted that alligators can become particularly territorial during mating season, which runs from April to June.
Her death was the third alligator attack reported in Florida within just seven days.
Despite that cluster of incidents, fatal encounters with the giant reptiles are rare.
FWC data recorded two deaths in Florida last year and two in 2023. There was one fatality in each of 2022, 2019, 2018 and 2016. No other annual figures have been included in the data cited.
The FWC advises residents and visitors to swim only in designated areas and keep a safe distance from alligators. Pets should be kept on leads and away from the water.
People have also been warned never to feed or handle the animals. Feeding alligators can encourage them to approach humans.
Another recent Florida alligator attack had a far happier ending, with a fisherman revealing the desperate trick he used to make the reptile release his leg before it dragged him underwater…
Fisherman reveals trick he used to survive alligator attack which nearly took his leg
An elderly fisherman in Florida has revealed how he survived a near-fatal attack in which an alligator bit down on his leg before trying to drag him into the water.
James Grayson McMicken, 71, was fishing in a canal behind his home in North Fort Myers on July 3 when the attack happened.
He had gone to the local spot with his bulldog but had barely had the chance to cast his fishing rod into the water before the alligator struck.
‘I started reeling and it jumped out of the water and grabbed me,’ he told local news channel WPEC Florida, adding that it was only quick thinking which saved him from being pulled in.
‘I stuck my thumb in one eye, and I just took that fishing pole and jabbed him in the other eye and jabbed him and jabbed him and jabbed him,’ he explained.
‘It seemed like forever, but it wasn’t that long. But then, he turned loose.’
He added: ‘I’ve always heard that if you’ve got no other choice, get them eyes, and that’s what got him off of me.’
While his life may have been saved, the attack left McMicken with deep bite wounds on his right leg , leaving him to rely upon his dog to get to his feet, stagger home and get help.
‘I’d have never made it crawling this far, so I called my dog over. She stood there and let me get up on her back to where I could get stood up,’ he said, adding that he was ‘exhausted’ by the time he got home and received help from his wife.
After being treated for his wounds, which involved both stitches and staples in his injured leg, McMicken is now recovering at home while he waits to start physical therapy.
However, he insisted that despite his brush with death he hopes to return to his favourite hobby soon.
He added: ‘All the nurses on the floor had to come by and go, “Wow, you did what”? I’m going to do everything I can not to die. No gator is going to run me off.’
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) called the incident ‘incredibly tragic’.
Its public information officer Chad Weber said the cause of the attack remained unclear but factors could have included current low water levels in the state combined with the end of mating season, and the creatures becoming territorial as a result.
On the same day, an 11-year-old boy on holiday with his father in Florida was bitten on the hand by an alligator while fishing.
The New York Post reported that Brodie Terry lost a hand in the attack, which occurred at Florida’s Nelson Fish Camp in Marion County.
Despite these recent incidents, alligator attacks on humans in the Sunshine State remain comparatively rare.
Florida is home to around 1.3 million alligators, which live in all of the state’s 67 counties, with the FWC reporting around 500 unprovoked bites having occurred since they began collecting data on attacks in 1948.
According to their records, as of 2026 only 32 of these recorded attacks proved fatal. However, Weber said anybody close to water in the state should be mindful of the risks.
‘Every body of water could have the potential to have an alligator,’ he explained. ‘There is some risk when you swim.’
