INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Florida Community Had Issued Alligator Warning Just Days Before Deadly Attack This Week

By Kathryn Cook
Published on: 02:51 PST, Jun 11, 2018

A Florida community is reeling after the recent and tragic death of one of its residents.

As the Inquisitr reported over the weekend, the body of 47-year-old Shizuka Matsuki was found after she went missing. Late last Friday evening, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission authorities trapped an alligator and cut it open, only to discover the arm of Shizuka Matsuki. They were able to identify the arm as Shizuka had a tattoo on the missing arm.

The woman was last seen walking her dogs near Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park near Ft. Lauderdale before she disappeared. Witnesses noticed that something had gone awry after they saw one of Matsuki’s dogs barking at the edge of the water. Matsuki’s dog was also injured, with a “gash” on its side that was consistent with an alligator bite. Later, investigators put the pieces together and the gruesome discovery was made.

But prior to the tragic accident, there was a warning given to residents. According to ABC News, the Isla del Sol Homeowners Association in Plantation, Florida, had recently issued a warning to residents, telling them to “exercise caution with our families and pets, mindful that alligators, snakes, and other wildlife may be in the area.”

The warning came just after a 6-foot alligator was found near a resident’s front door. That particular alligator was captured without incident, but the community still felt the need to urge residents to use caution when going about their daily lives.

According to the Daily Mail, Jim Borrelli, a friend of Matsuki, said that she and her husband did not live in that particular neighborhood, but they had walked their dogs there before as they were always looking for different places take their dogs on walks. At the time of the accident, Matsuki’s husband was out of town and was trying to fly back home after hearing the news. Borrelli also said that he was asked to break the news to the couple’s 20-something-year-old son, who lives in New York.

“I’m praying that nothing happened to her,” Borrelli said before he found out that Matsuki’s body was found.

This is not the first time that an alligator attack made headlines. As many will recall, 2-year-old Lane Graves was killed after an alligator attack in Florida. As My Fox 8 shares, the toddler was killed by an alligator at a Walt Disney World hotel in June of 2016. Lane was in ankle deep water, collecting water in buckets from the lake to make sandcastles when an alligator bit the boy’s head and dragged him into the water.

He was from Nebraska but was vacationing with his family in Florida.

Share this article: Florida Community Had Issued Alligator Warning Just Days Before Deadly Attack This Week
florida
More from Inquisitr