Another Rare Florida Death: Gator Kills Woman Canoeist

It’s been a tragic week in Florida, with not one but two fatal wildlife attacks that have grabbed headlines, the latest an alligator attack near Kissimmee.

One day after a fatal black-bear attack on Monday near Naples, a woman was reportedly killed by an alligator while she and her husband were canoeing on Lake Kissimmee.

Alligator Attack 'A Reaction'

On Tuesday, the picturesque lake 75 miles south of downtown Orlando became the site of Florida's second deadly wildlife attack in as many days as Cynthia Diekema, a 61-year-old Davenport resident, was killed by an alligator at approximately 5 p.m. on May 6, 2025.

According to the Lakeland Ledger newspaper, the deadly incident occurred when Diekema and her husband passed over the alligator as they canoed in shallow water of approximately 2.5 feet in depth. 

"This is not believed to be a predatory incident, but simply a defense incident where they came upon the alligator beneath the water's edge and when the canoe struck it, it caused a reaction," indicated Florida FWC game warden Maj. Evan Laskowski at a May 7, 2025 news conference.

Additional details show that the couple had headed out aboard a 14-foot canoe onto Kissimmee, which the newspaper reports has the second highest alligator population in the state with more than 16,000 gators. When the canoe passed over one of those gators, it thrashed and tipped the canoe over, throwing Diekema from her seat in the bow. When she landed in the water, it was on top of the gator, which bit her and submerged with her despite attempts by Diekema’s husband to fend it off.

When authorities arrived on scene, drones and helicopters were used to search the swampy terrain prior to a helicopter spotting the suspected gator. 

The woman's remains were subsequently recovered from the water by FWC officials. Later on, a local trapper reportedly captured two gators in the area, which were dispatched and are being examined to see if one of those was involved in the woman’s death. Various reports indicate that one gator was reportedly more than 11 feet in length while the second one was in the 10 to 11 foot range.

Roger Young, the executive director for FWC, indicated at the news conference that while such attacks do happen in Florida, they are still rare.

"This serves as a somber reminder of the powerful wildlife that share our natural spaces," Young said according to the New York Times.

A Week of Tragedy in Florida

The week began with Monday's tragic attack—the state’s first ever bear attack fatality not far from Naples, and the third such bear-attack fatality in the South dating back to 1900.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials indicate that sometime Monday morning, Robert Markel, an 89-year old Jerome, Fla., resident, was fatally attacked by a black bear. His dog was also killed by a bear in a separate attack. Authorities have trapped and dispatched three bears in the vicinity and are conducting tests at the University of Florida to see if they were involved in the attack.

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Alligators in Florida

So how common are alligators in the Sunshine State? According to FWC, estimates place the state's population of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) at approximately 1.3 million, the second largest population in the U.S. behind Louisiana.

The FWC notes that gators are found in all 67 of Florida’s counties. With approximately 6.7 million acres of alligator habitat in the state, that means that nearly any fresh or brackish water could potentially have resident gators. That includes wild places like the Tiger Creek area of Lake Kissimmee where Tuesday's fatal attack took place, as well as lakes, ponds, streams, rivers and swamps, including urban fishing ponds.

Dating back to 1948, the state agency data indicates there have been a total of 488 alligator bites on people in Florida. FWC data shows there's an average of 6.3 gator/human bite cases annually in the state. Those cases include 340 major bite incidents (requiring medical treatment beyond basic first aid) and 28 human fatalities in Florida.

Tuesday’s incident was the first reported alligator/human bite case in 2025. And prior to this week’s tragedy, the last fatal alligator attack in Florida came two years ago, when 85-year-old Gloria Serge was killed on Feb. 2, 2023 in St. Lucie County as she walked her dog around the edge of a retention pond near Ft. Pierce. 

Altogether, of the 15 alligator attack fatalities in Florida since 2000, victims have ranged in age from 2 to 85. FWC notes that these deadly cases  have included individuals walking a dog, swimming, snorkeling, playing near a shoreline, and in two instances, actually swimming across retention ponds while trying to evade police officers.

Gator Populations By State

While Florida is near the top of the 2025 alligator population list, there is no shortage of the lengthy and powerful reptiles across the southern U.S. According to World Population Review, Louisiana leads the nation with approximately 2 million alligators, followed by Florida's 1.3 million. Texas is next with 400,000, followed by Georgia's 200,000 and South Carolina's 100,000. Rounding out the Top 10 are Alabama (70,000), Mississippi (32,000), Arkansas (2,000), North Carolina (1,000), and Oklahoma (100).

While acknowledging that the list is dynamic and likely incomplete, Wikipedia notes that there have been at least 43 alligator/human attack fatalities in the southern U.S. dating back to June 1957. While Florida's deadly attacks lead those stats, fatal attacks have also taken place in Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, and Louisiana.

While there seems to be no hard estimate available in terms of how many total alligators exist across the U.S., a Google search shows various figures as high as five million gators, primarily in southern states from Texas to the Atlantic coastline. While gators were once threatened due to unregulated market hunting, populations are mostly recovered and several states offer managed alligator hunting options, including Florida.

Big headline grabbing alligators taken by hunters in recent years have become a staple in news reporting, including in Florida. Two years ago, while hunting near Orlando, outfitter Kevin Brotz had a memorable hunt that went viral on national news shows after a lengthy battle with a 900-pound gator with a length of more than 13 feet. After drawing the tag and enlisting the aid of two friends in a small jon boat, Brotz was eventually able to dispatch the gator and claim 130 pounds of gator meat. 

While Brotz's gator highlights the way that Florida manages its gator population through regulated hunting, the big reptiles do get bigger than his massive specimen. According to FWC data for officially measured and weighed specimens, the heaviest gator ever recorded in the state was a 1,043-pound specimen at Orange Lake back in 1989, while the longest gator measured 14 feet, 3 1/2 inches when it was measured at Lake Washington back in Nov. 2010.

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