0:57 Eric Merda, a. Im going up, and Im not coming back down.". But family friend Cory Dunn said the effort was unsuccessful. Then, he was stretchered off to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where surgeons removed most of his right arm. He said he was then dragged underwater three times before the alligator "finally did her death roll and took off with my arm.". As if Hurricane Ida itself wasnt horrific enough, Louisianians are now facing a new dilemma: navigating all the various hazards it created. Sarasota man found naked with arm gone after gator attack, witnesses say. Eric Merda, 43, lost his arm to an alligator while swimming in Florida lake, Lake Manatee Fish Camp, Myakka City Florida, Florida alligator being trapped by wildlife officials. Then. '", In an interview with Fox13 Tampa Bay from the time, the man who found Merda said: "I didn't know if he was dead or alive when I first walked upon him. On July 17, Merda got lost in the woods at Lake Manatee Fish Camp in Myakka City. Eric Merda, from Sarasota, was taken to hospital after the attack at Lake Manatee Fish Camp in Myakka City in the US state on 17 July. Only 13 fatalities were recorded nationally since 2000, and none was in Louisiana. 'I didn't know if he was dead or alive when I first walked upon him,' the rescuer said. The man was attacked outside his home in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell, which was inundated with several feet of water. An off-duty scientist decided to lend a helping hand in 2012 when an alligator was spotted along Highway 70 in North Carolina. After a gator bit Eric Merdas arm off while swimming in Lake Manatee, he spent three exhausting days on the swamp with one arm, Tampas WTSP reports. Dandwate followed them into the water, trying to get to them out. He deserved to get that arm ripped off for being so fucking stupid, if you ask me. Funck and two friends from Slidell, La., about 20 miles northeast of New Orleans, had trudged half a mile to a small pond called Crystal Lake for a swim Wednesday afternoon. Merda was taken to hospital where doctors amputated most of his right arm. Woman bitten twice by shark while boogie boarding at New Smyrna Beach, beach officials say. Timothy Satterlee was attacked by the scaly beast on Monday at his home in Slidell, where his shed was under several feet of water during the storm surge near Lake Pontchartrain. Legal Statement. 02:13 - Source: WFTS Latest Videos 17 videos Drone footage captures. There is a high probability that he is deceased, but we cant make that call until we recover the body.. By Claudia Cuskelly 09:59, Wed, Sep 21, 2016 | UPDATED: 10:54, Wed, Sep 21, 2016 "He's got a long way to go, lots of surgery. On July 17, Eric Merda was swimming across Lake Manatee when an almost-seven-foot-long alligator bit and severed his arm, according to local station WFLA News Channel 8. - Doctors were unable to reattach an 11-year-old Louisiana boy's arm that was retrieved from the belly of the alligator, a family friend said Thursday. The above-displayed photographs have been linked to an October 2009 incident in which a 10-foot alligator bit off the arm of a 77-year-old South . In May, 47-year-old Thomas McGuinness died after he was injured by an alligator while at Taylor Lake in Largo. He said he came upon the water and decided to swim across. 'And there's nothing, no words can describe it, you know.'. After a gator bit Eric Merda's arm off while swimming in Lake Manatee, he spent three exhausting days on the swamp with one arm, Tampa's WTSP reports.There have been at least a half-dozen gator attacks in the Tampa Bay region this season, the most recent of which involved a . By "Do not feed the gators and you guys know who you are, throwing rocks at them, I've seen it on the job sites, leave them gators alone," he said. When you decide to walk in the door of any place with a live alligator show, there's a small, sadistic part of you that hopes something goes wrong. Louisiana Man Loses Arm, Likely Killed in Alligator Attack in Ida He was in a lot of pain. Timothy Satterlee. I'm actually thriving. Weatherholt, a 63-year-old airboat captain in the Florida Everglades, was giving a tour of the area to an Indiana family on June 12 when a 9-foot alligator suddenly sank its teeth into his wrist, severing his hand. According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office: When she [..] realized the severity of his injuries, she immediately got into her pirogue and went to higher ground, which was approximately a mile away, to get help. 'I look over and there's a gator on my right-hand side,' he told 10 Tampa Bay. However, thanks to a brave man, the handler's hand was freed from the jaws of the reptile. Merda managed to swim back to shore and started to walk in search of help. Merda claims hes adjusting to a new routine with a different outlook, and he wants to warn other people about the need for caution in Florida waterways. BENGALURU, INDIA An Indian engineer is learning the hard way that even after you have been mauled by crocodiles trying to rescue your pet, the government w. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football) WTSP shared portions of the interview with Merda on their Youtube. A golf resort in South Carolina posted a photo of a man on the golf course dangerously grabbing the tail of an alligator while another man took his picture.