Residents living along a quiet southeast Cape Coral canal are accustomed to spotting dolphins and stingrays in the water, but a headless alligator? That was a first.
Gloria Baenen discovered the unusual sight near her pontoon boat, after noticing a strong, fishy odor.
“I said, well, someone said there was a gator but no head,” Baenen recalled. “When I went to check, I found it belly-up, floating near the boat.”
Mystery in the water
The alligator, which was missing both its head and tail, drifted away shortly afterward. Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) searched the surrounding canals but initially came up empty, speculating the carcass may have been stuck beneath Baenen’s boat.
“Outside here, we see stingrays and dolphins numerous times,” Baenen said. “Never a gator, and never like this.”
A search team, aided by scent dogs, later located the alligator again. The decomposing body, now largely skeletal, was found in shallow water, swarming with flies. FWC officers removed the remains from the canal and relocated the body to deeper waters to allow for natural decomposition.
“Yeah, because it stinks,” Baenen noted. “I don’t understand how a headless alligator could be so newsworthy, but it’s kind of cool.”
Despite curiosity, the discovery has raised concerns among neighbors about how the alligator died, and whether it was the result of poaching.
“I hope that whoever did it, if it was poached, they get caught,” Baenen said. “That’s not a good thing.”
Officials say the incident is under active investigation.
