Killer Alligator Captured in Georgia

[RJF]

Killer Alligator Captured in Georgia
Thursday , October 11, 2007

SAVANNAH, Ga —

An alligator that killed an elderly woman was captured in the pond where passers-by found her body last weekend, police said.

Jack Douglas, a licensed alligator trapper, caught and killed the 8-foot alligator late Tuesday on Skidaway Island in east Savannah.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources sent Douglas to hunt for the reptile after an autopsy confirmed 83-year-old Gwen Williams died from blood loss caused by an alligator attack.

A couple found her body — missing its left arm, right hand and right foot — in the pond Saturday near the home where Williams was house-sitting for relatives. Police said Williams was from Canada, but did not know which city.

Douglas confirmed the captured alligator was the one that attacked Williams by cutting it open to examine the contents of its stomach, police said.

Williams was the first person known to have been killed by an alligator in Georgia since 1980, said Jim Simmons, a senior wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.