sailsmen
07-31-2008, 04:11 AM
Boy's arm cut from gator's belly
by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, Mary Elise DeCoursey and Kia Hall Hayes, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday July 30, 2008, 10:12 PM
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/alligator_bites_boy_near_slide .html
SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
The gator is dragged away to a waiting trailer. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies and wildlife agents capture and kill a 10-foot-8-inch long alligator that bit the arm off an 11-year-old boy Wednesday, July 30, 2008, in a small lake south of Slidell.
On a day typical in its heat and humidity, with the end of summer vacation fast approaching, a swim in a neighborhood pond seemed a fine idea to 11-year-old Devin Funck and two of his friends.
Big Joe had other ideas.
At 10 feet, 8 inches long and weighing an estimated 500 pounds, the alligator was a familiar sight in the ponds abutting Kingspoint and Fox Hollow subdivisions near Slidell, familiar enough that locals long ago gave the reptile its ominous nickname.
• Click here for map of the incident
As Devin and his companions splashed and frolicked in Crystal Lake on Wednesday afternoon, they spotted the imposing creature swimming toward them. They darted toward shore, but the alligator overtook Devin and pulled him under.
Big Joe bit Devin's left arm off, all the way to the shoulder. The boy managed to get free, but he was critically hurt.
Devin's rescue by authorities in St. Tammany Parish was to assume epic proportions. About 3 1/2 hours later, he was in surgery at Ochsner Medical Center, with surgeons working to reattached the severed arm, recovered from the belly of the beast by daring law enforcement officers.
SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
In a lake south of Slidell's Kingspoint and Pinehurst subdivisions, St. Tammany Parish sheriff's Deputy Howard McCrea and others capture a large alligator that attacked an 11-year-old boy Wednesday afternoon.
SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
The boy's arm is put in a red evidence bag and placed into an ice chest for transportation to the hospital.
Devin's mother, Kim Funck, said she initially thought her son had suffered a much less severe bite.
"I thought he got bit, " she said Wednesday night at Ochsner. "When they told me it took his whole arm off out of his socket, I was floored. I think I'm numb. I'm just numb."
Devin, who is entering the sixth grade at Little Oak Middle School in Slidell, didn't swim "excessively, " but loved the outdoors and rode his bike a lot, she said.
"Anything outdoors, that's Devin, " she said.
And he also loved playing his new Playstation 3. His first words to his mother were: "I'm sorry, I know alligators are dangerous." and "How am I going to play my game now?"
'Series of miracles'
Devin's survival into the evening was due to nothing less than "a series of miracles, " Sheriff Jack Strain said.
"It was a miracle that the boy resurfaced, and it was the miracle of all miracles that the gator did not come back a second time as the boy lay in the water, " the sheriff said.
As the gator attacked, the two girls who had been swimming with Devin scrambled onto shore and ran for help. Three sheriff's deputies happened to be nearby on traffic duty.
The deputies drove as fast and as far as they could, then ran the rest of the way to reach the maimed youth, still in the water. They pulled him out and carried him 1 1/2 miles to their patrol cars.
Devin initially was taken to Slidell Memorial Hospital and later airlifted to Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson.
Meanwhile, deputies and other authorities converged on the lake to hunt down Big Joe. Their hope: Find the right alligator, kill it, cut it open and retrieve Devin's arm in a condition that might make it possible for doctors to reattach it.
St. Tammany alligator expert and sheriff's Deputy Howard McCrea arrived at the scene about 4 p.m. Before long, he had hooked the massive gator on a line, but it broke free.
McCrea and others continued tracking the animal around the lake for most of the next two hours.
"The bigger they are, the bolder they get, " said McCrea, who, despite a lifetime of alligator tracking and hunting on the north shore, had never before dealt with a gator attack.
McCrea eventually hooked the gator again. State wildlife agent Sgt. Darryl Galloway fired several shots, killing the animal about 5:45 p.m.
Waiting and praying
Officers dragged the animal toward the shore, its massive head resting on the side of their small flatboat as its lifeless body floated alongside.
Officers pulled the gator onto land and rolled it onto its back, and McCrea slit it open. There was the boy's arm, largely intact.
Authorities quickly wrapped the limb in a wet towel, stashed it in an ice chest and hurried it to a patrol car. A deputy and two Slidell-area firefighters sped the ice chest to Ochsner.
Devin's condition was undetermined, but authorities near Slidell were hopeful that the boy's arm, once recovered, could be surgically reattached.
Family members gathered in a surgical waiting room at Ochsner Medical Center to wait, hope and pray.
"You hear about this happening, but you never think it's going to happen to someone you know, " Trisha Hamilton said about her nephew as he received preliminary emergency treatment at Slidell Memorial Hospital.
Kim Funck said her son went into surgery at Ochsner about 7:15 p.m. Family members did not know if doctors would be able to successfully reattach his arm.
"It happened so fast. Devin probably didn't know what happened when it bit him, " she said. "I thought (Devin) was the last one that would ever get hurt."
Funck said there are alligators in all the canals and ponds around Kingspoint, but until now they haven't gotten a lot of attention.
She cautioned other children to stay away from ponds. "This happens and someone actually got hurt, bad."
Steering clear
Back at the lake, two local boys said they typically swim there and have never had trouble from Big Joe or any of his buddies before.
"We've swam in Crystal Lake all the time, some summers every day, and the gators never bother us; they just swim around and live in the holes deep at the bottom, " said Phillip "P.G." Borkowski, 15, a resident of Kingspoint subdivision.
Brandon Campo, 15, said that whenever the boys would approach the alligators, "the gators get spooked and swim off."
Neither boy seemed enthused about getting back into their swimming hole anytime soon.
"But we'll continue fishing, " Campo said cautiously.
. . . . . . .
Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4827. Kia Hall Hayes can be reached at khayes@timespicayune.com or 985.645.2847. Mary Elise DeCoursey can be reached at medecoursey@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3362.
by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, Mary Elise DeCoursey and Kia Hall Hayes, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday July 30, 2008, 10:12 PM
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/alligator_bites_boy_near_slide .html
SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
The gator is dragged away to a waiting trailer. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies and wildlife agents capture and kill a 10-foot-8-inch long alligator that bit the arm off an 11-year-old boy Wednesday, July 30, 2008, in a small lake south of Slidell.
On a day typical in its heat and humidity, with the end of summer vacation fast approaching, a swim in a neighborhood pond seemed a fine idea to 11-year-old Devin Funck and two of his friends.
Big Joe had other ideas.
At 10 feet, 8 inches long and weighing an estimated 500 pounds, the alligator was a familiar sight in the ponds abutting Kingspoint and Fox Hollow subdivisions near Slidell, familiar enough that locals long ago gave the reptile its ominous nickname.
• Click here for map of the incident
As Devin and his companions splashed and frolicked in Crystal Lake on Wednesday afternoon, they spotted the imposing creature swimming toward them. They darted toward shore, but the alligator overtook Devin and pulled him under.
Big Joe bit Devin's left arm off, all the way to the shoulder. The boy managed to get free, but he was critically hurt.
Devin's rescue by authorities in St. Tammany Parish was to assume epic proportions. About 3 1/2 hours later, he was in surgery at Ochsner Medical Center, with surgeons working to reattached the severed arm, recovered from the belly of the beast by daring law enforcement officers.
SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
In a lake south of Slidell's Kingspoint and Pinehurst subdivisions, St. Tammany Parish sheriff's Deputy Howard McCrea and others capture a large alligator that attacked an 11-year-old boy Wednesday afternoon.
SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
The boy's arm is put in a red evidence bag and placed into an ice chest for transportation to the hospital.
Devin's mother, Kim Funck, said she initially thought her son had suffered a much less severe bite.
"I thought he got bit, " she said Wednesday night at Ochsner. "When they told me it took his whole arm off out of his socket, I was floored. I think I'm numb. I'm just numb."
Devin, who is entering the sixth grade at Little Oak Middle School in Slidell, didn't swim "excessively, " but loved the outdoors and rode his bike a lot, she said.
"Anything outdoors, that's Devin, " she said.
And he also loved playing his new Playstation 3. His first words to his mother were: "I'm sorry, I know alligators are dangerous." and "How am I going to play my game now?"
'Series of miracles'
Devin's survival into the evening was due to nothing less than "a series of miracles, " Sheriff Jack Strain said.
"It was a miracle that the boy resurfaced, and it was the miracle of all miracles that the gator did not come back a second time as the boy lay in the water, " the sheriff said.
As the gator attacked, the two girls who had been swimming with Devin scrambled onto shore and ran for help. Three sheriff's deputies happened to be nearby on traffic duty.
The deputies drove as fast and as far as they could, then ran the rest of the way to reach the maimed youth, still in the water. They pulled him out and carried him 1 1/2 miles to their patrol cars.
Devin initially was taken to Slidell Memorial Hospital and later airlifted to Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson.
Meanwhile, deputies and other authorities converged on the lake to hunt down Big Joe. Their hope: Find the right alligator, kill it, cut it open and retrieve Devin's arm in a condition that might make it possible for doctors to reattach it.
St. Tammany alligator expert and sheriff's Deputy Howard McCrea arrived at the scene about 4 p.m. Before long, he had hooked the massive gator on a line, but it broke free.
McCrea and others continued tracking the animal around the lake for most of the next two hours.
"The bigger they are, the bolder they get, " said McCrea, who, despite a lifetime of alligator tracking and hunting on the north shore, had never before dealt with a gator attack.
McCrea eventually hooked the gator again. State wildlife agent Sgt. Darryl Galloway fired several shots, killing the animal about 5:45 p.m.
Waiting and praying
Officers dragged the animal toward the shore, its massive head resting on the side of their small flatboat as its lifeless body floated alongside.
Officers pulled the gator onto land and rolled it onto its back, and McCrea slit it open. There was the boy's arm, largely intact.
Authorities quickly wrapped the limb in a wet towel, stashed it in an ice chest and hurried it to a patrol car. A deputy and two Slidell-area firefighters sped the ice chest to Ochsner.
Devin's condition was undetermined, but authorities near Slidell were hopeful that the boy's arm, once recovered, could be surgically reattached.
Family members gathered in a surgical waiting room at Ochsner Medical Center to wait, hope and pray.
"You hear about this happening, but you never think it's going to happen to someone you know, " Trisha Hamilton said about her nephew as he received preliminary emergency treatment at Slidell Memorial Hospital.
Kim Funck said her son went into surgery at Ochsner about 7:15 p.m. Family members did not know if doctors would be able to successfully reattach his arm.
"It happened so fast. Devin probably didn't know what happened when it bit him, " she said. "I thought (Devin) was the last one that would ever get hurt."
Funck said there are alligators in all the canals and ponds around Kingspoint, but until now they haven't gotten a lot of attention.
She cautioned other children to stay away from ponds. "This happens and someone actually got hurt, bad."
Steering clear
Back at the lake, two local boys said they typically swim there and have never had trouble from Big Joe or any of his buddies before.
"We've swam in Crystal Lake all the time, some summers every day, and the gators never bother us; they just swim around and live in the holes deep at the bottom, " said Phillip "P.G." Borkowski, 15, a resident of Kingspoint subdivision.
Brandon Campo, 15, said that whenever the boys would approach the alligators, "the gators get spooked and swim off."
Neither boy seemed enthused about getting back into their swimming hole anytime soon.
"But we'll continue fishing, " Campo said cautiously.
. . . . . . .
Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch@timespicayune.com or 985.898.4827. Kia Hall Hayes can be reached at khayes@timespicayune.com or 985.645.2847. Mary Elise DeCoursey can be reached at medecoursey@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3362.