By David Raterman

If you’re mucking about in the Everglades, swimming off Fort Lauderdale or trail running in Palm Beach County, there’s a chance you’ll see an apex predator. There’s a better chance it’ll see you first.

With the September death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, who was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb off the coast of Australia, an intrepid South Florida Adventures writer dared to research the risks of getting out and about in South Florida’s natural world. He did it over the phone.

“Most important, you always want to respect the animal and its territory,” says Alex Saputo, a triathlete, naturalist and wildlife guide in the Everglades. “Keep your distance, notice their behavior, pay close attention to their demeanor. If they’re agitated, you’re too close.”

But how do you—a city slicker, a suburbanite or even a gladesman—know if a dangerous animal is agitated? How do you know if it will attack or it will run, swim or slither away? And what is the chance that you’ll even see one?

“There’s not a high risk of getting eaten or attacked,” Saputo says. “Getting lost is the worst thing. The Everglades is a great area, wild, but relatively safe when compared with the jungles of South America.”

Still, he says, “You’ve got to know about the animals you might see or you’re dumb.”

So here’s a primer.
ALLIGATORS

Probably the most menacing predator in South Florida is the alligator. It can grow to 16 feet long, weigh 1,000 pounds, and snap its sharp teeth together at 3000 pounds per square inch, all the while pulling you under water. With urban sprawl overlapping the alligator’s habitat and the reptile’s population having reached an estimated one million in Florida, encounters are frequent.

Deadly, too. Florida had 17 fatal alligator attacks in the 58 years prior to 2006, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). But in one week in May 2006 alligators killed three people, including a woman in Sunrise.

“In the real wild, not in a ditch on a side of a road for example, alligators flee (humans),” Saputo says. “But you don’t mess around in alligator territory at night when they’re feeding because they will eat you.”

That territory includes areas with plants growing high out of freshwater; alligators typically live in freshwater whereas Florida’s few crocodiles live in saltwater.

Chance of seeing an alligator: Extremely good

Chance of being fatally attacked: Rare but reasonable

PANTHERS

“I have not physically seen a panther in all my years,” Saputo says of the endangered species. “And I’ve tried so hard. But from what I hear they flee. They go into the trees or run away.”

According to various sources, fewer than 100 panthers, cousins of the mountain lions that live in the western United States, live in Florida’s hinterland. These carnivores typically max out at 175 pounds, have powerful jaws that snap together dagger-like canines, and have inch-long razor-sharp claws.

In December 2005 a panther killed a chihuahua in Immokalee, the first panther attack on a dog since the 1980s. In 2004 a panther killed two domestic goats and an emu near Ochopee.

“I don’t think there has ever been a case of a Florida panther killing a person,” Saputo says, and FWC statistics verify this.

Panthers usually eat white-tailed deer, wild hogs, raccoons and armadillos. Sometimes they eat rabbits, rats, birds and even small alligators.

According to the FWC, to be safe you should be alert from dusk to dawn and hike with a friend. If you do encounter a panther, make yourself larger by raising your arms or opening your jacket if you’re wearing one. Make eye contact, make noise and throw stones or branches without turning away to show you’re in control. Don’t run or you might stimulate the panther’s instinct to chase.

Chance of seeing a panther: Virtually nil

Chance of being fatally attacked: Infinitesimal

BLACK BEARS

“I’ve seen black bears in Fakahatchee,” Saputo says. “I was doing a swamp walk, in the jungle where there was hardly any light, and sure enough there was a bear. He was trying to smell me out, figure out who was in his territory. And I’ve seen them in Ocala (National Forest), bear capital of Florida. I could hear one back in the thickets and finally saw him standing 30 yards away. They’re so elusive and spook easily. He took off like a missile.”

And that’s good because the Florida black bear can weigh up to 600 pounds and stand 6.5 feet, has sharp teeth and sharp claws, and can sprint up to 30 mph.

“The bears are very intimidating because they’re bigger than you,” Saputo says. “But I don’t believe there has been a documented attack of a black bear on people in South Florida. They’re not grizzly bears, which will kill you.”

Florida black bears are omnivores. In addition to vegetation, they eat armadillos, turtles, snakes, raccoons, rabbits, hogs and white-tailed deer.

Chance of seeing a black bear: Rare

Chance of being fatally attacked: Low

EASTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKES

Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes and cottonmouths (aka water moccasins) won’t flee. “Nine out of 10 times they’ll hold their ground,” Saputo says.

The diamondback is the heaviest venomous snake in the Western Hemisphere and can grow to 8 feet. But it’s the poison you have to worry about.

This snake can swim through fresh and saltwater but is often found in dry scrub areas and occasionally in sandy coastal regions. Diamondbacks typically stay in fallen trees and abandoned burrows. They hunt small mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, but one snake has enough venom to kill dozens of people.

If you stumble upon a diamondback it will probably coil up and shake its rattle to warn you to stay away. Heed that since the mortality rate for untreated bites is greater than 75 percent. Antivenin, when used in time, reduces mortality to 4 percent.

Chance of seeing a diamondback: Decent if you’re looking in the right places

Chance of being fatally attacked: Pretty good if you come across one

PYTHONS

Wildlife officials have culled a couple of hundred pythons from the Everglades in recent years, with Burmese pythons being the most common.

“But I’m really disappointed because I’ve never seen one,” Saputo says. “My friend (working) at Big Cypress National Preserve told me they pulled 43 exotic snakes one time.”

(Pythons and other killer snakes, like South American anacondas, are exotics in South Florida.)

Burmese pythons almost never eat animals larger than a house cat. Almost never. In 2005 a 13-footer was found to have consumed a 6-foot alligator. But the snake died as the ‘gator broke through its hide.

And in 2004 visitors at Everglades National Park witnessed a python wrap itself around an alligator until the alligator did a reversal and swam off with the snake in its mouth. Another time, visitors at the park saw an epic 24-hour battle between the two reptilian species. It ended in a draw with both combatants wounded.

Chance of seeing a python: Good if you visit Everglades National Park

Chance of being fatally attacked: Zero so far

SHARKS

Most shark attacks occur between June and October, according to the FWC. From 1882 to 2005 there were 520 confirmed unprovoked attacks around Florida: 55 off Palm Beach with 0 fatalities; 10 off Broward with 1 fatality (in 2001); and 10 off Miami-Dade with 1 fatality (in 1961).

“The most common activity people are doing when they’re bitten is surfing,” says Brent Winner, an associate research scientist specializing in sharks and rays with the FWC. “That’s because of how much time surfers spend in the water. There’s a better chance of an encounter.”

“But most sharks bite and release because they realize, ‘Oh, that’s not a fish!’”

Most attacks occur between land and a sandbar or between sandbars, where sharks feed and can become trapped at low tide. Areas with steep drop-offs are also likely attack sites since fish that sharks eat congregate in these areas.

For scuba divers, there’s almost no threat of attack, says South Florida Adventures’ diving columnist Lance Bark. “Most of the sharks we see are nurse sharks, which are docile. Occasionally you’ll see a bull shark but 99 percent of the time the sharks swim away. I never, in all my years of diving, remember a diver getting bitten by a shark. Once or twice a person spearfishing has been bitten, but that’s because he was trailing dead fish on a line.”

If you see a shark swimming near you, most important is not to panic: thrashing will make you seem inured and therefore easy prey. Calmly but quickly climb back on your surfboard or boat or swim back to shore. If you do get bitten, apply pressure to the wound and go to a physician because shark mouths contain infectious bacteria.

Chance of seeing a shark: If you’re in the ocean for long, you’ll see one

Chance of being fatally attacked: Almost zero

STINGRAYS

“It’s very, very rare, what happened to Steve Irwin,” says the FWC’s Winner. “Stingray wounds are very rarely fatal. Maybe with kids, but only a handful of times (in Florida’s history) at the most.”

Yet the chance of encountering a stingray is high. Off our coast three species are common—the southern stingray, Atlantic stingray and bullnose stingray—with wingspans ranging from 1.5 to 7 feet wide.

Stingray barbs, which are venomous, are covered with a skin sheath. When a stingray decides to attack, the puncturing breaks the sheath so the venom enters the wound. Sometimes the spine breaks off.

But usually the puncture is just painful, although infections and allergic reactions can occur. Winner says you should heat to treat: pour hot water over the wound or, if possible, put the wounded body part in a bucket of hot soapy water. Use the antiseptic Betadine if possible.

Chance of seeing a stingray: Good in shallow water

Chance of being fatally attacked: “Very, very rare”