Florida wildlife investigators say DNA testing has confirmed that a 13-foot alligator killed a 31-year-old woman who went swimming during a hike with her boyfriend.
Brittany Clark was fatally attacked on June 28 in the Little Big Econ State Forest, northeast of Orlando, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said. Officials said the attack happened near the Barr Street Trailhead along the Econlockhatchee River, where Clark had stopped with her boyfriend, Chance Allison, a friend and her dogs.
After the attack, officials removed and euthanized two alligators found close to the area, one measuring 12.5 feet and the other 13 feet. Test results later identified the larger animal as the one involved in Clark’s death.
Clark had been hiking with her boyfriend, Chance Allison, as well as friends and her dogs, before the group decided to stop and swim in the Econlockhatchee River.
Investigators said she was in roughly three feet of water when the alligator suddenly struck. It seized her arm and dragged her into a death roll, the spinning maneuver alligators use when overpowering prey.
Allison tried to pull the reptile off her and ended up being dragged into the water himself during the struggle.
The animal let go of Clark for a moment but then bit her other arm. Allison kept fighting and was eventually able to free her, after which the alligator swam away. By then, however, she had suffered catastrophic injuries.
WOFL reported that the medical examiner found Clark sustained a partially severed left arm and an open fracture to her right arm.
Allison and Clark’s best friend pulled her back to shore while others in the group phoned 911. Audio from the emergency calls captured the chaos at the scene. “Bad, real bad please, hurry… she’s losing a lot of… please hurry,” one caller said. When a dispatcher asked how severe the injuries were, the caller replied, ‘Horrible’, before describing that both of Clark’s arms had been affected by the attack.
Responders found she still had a faint pulse and rushed her toward a hospital, but the FWC said she died before arriving. She was pronounced dead at 2:48pm.
In a Facebook tribute, Allison wrote, “I’m just still in disbelief of what took place. We had so many things planned out and memories to be made.” He added, “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 forever,” referring to Clark’s dogs.
Officials have not said what may have triggered the attack, though they noted that alligators can be more territorial during mating season, which lasts from April through June. The FWC says Florida is home to an estimated 1.3 million alligators, and while serious attacks are rare, the species is found in all 67 counties and can be present in nearly any freshwater body.
Clark’s death was the third fatal alligator attack recorded in Florida over a seven-day span. Two of those deaths happened within 24 hours of each other in Central Florida.
Even so, deadly alligator attacks are still uncommon. FWC figures show there were two fatal attacks in Florida last year, two in 2023, and one each in 2022, 2019, 2018 and 2016. The agency’s long-running bite records show that fatal attacks remain a tiny fraction of all documented unprovoked alligator incidents in the state.
The agency has urged people to swim only in designated locations, keep pets leashed and away from the water’s edge, never feed or try to handle alligators, and always stay a safe distance away. If someone is concerned about an alligator, FWC says to call its toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).