Florida Gator Gardens said a wildlife expert at a zoo near the city of Tampa on Florida’s west coast lost part of his arm after being attacked by an alligator “during a routine interaction with our large alligators.”
Greg Graziani, 53, the zoo’s wildlife director, was bitten by a large alligator that practically cut off his lower left arm, as seen in the X-ray and photo shared on social media by Florida Gator Gardens.
Park said Graziani was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, where doctors had one hand “hanging from the tendon and muscle”, forcing her arm to be amputated below the elbow.
“It goes without saying,” he says, after the reptile attack, because “it was an extreme injury that connects Greg’s hand by a tendon and a muscle, and the surgeon had to bend it six times during the initial surgery.”
The site, which also functions as a botanical garden, nursery, and breeding and training reserve, reminded that “any time you work with animals, there is always a risk (…. This event could easily have ended in tragedy”.
The surgery, which resulted in amputation of the lower arm, took nine hours and was able to “preserve half of the forearm”.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) continues to investigate the incident that occurred last week.
After recovering from injury, Graziani plans to return to his regular job at Gator Gardens, Florida, where he will “continue all the great projects we’ve put our hearts into over the past few years.”
source: Noticias
