Man Loses Arm To 10.5-Foot Alligator In Attack Behind FL Bar: Reports

PORT CHARLOTTE, FL — A man lost his arm after being bitten by an alligator in a pond behind a Port Charlotte bar early Sunday morning, according to multiple reports.

The 23-year-old victim was airlifted as a trauma alert to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, according to NBC 2.

One bar patron, Manny Hidalgo, heard calls for help from outside the bar, near the pond behind it, and ran out to assist the victim.

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"He was yelling and swimming toward the shoreline," Hidalgo told The Daily Sun. "I ran and dragged him up onto the sand. I was scared to get close to the water because it was dark out."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and Charlotte County EMS all responded to the scene of the gator attack.

An alligator trapper contracted by the FWC later responded to the scene and removed a gator that was 10 feet, 5 inches long. The reptile was humanely killed, Fox 4 Now said.

David Lowe, who was at Banditos Sunday afternoon, said this wasn't the first time a gator was seen at the bar.

“At least 20 years, the big one I know of if it’s the same one, he’s been there 20 years," he told ABC 7.

Staff and diners at a nearby restaurant were also known for feeding alligators in the pond, Lowe said. “There was a restaurant they just tore down, and I know people did feed that you know throw whatever they didn’t eat down on the water."