Fla. Man Pries Alligator Off His Head, Survives Attack

APOPKA, Fla. --

Three days after surviving an alligator attack while swimming with his 7-year-old son at a state park, an Orange County man wants to know why authorities still have not warned the public about the potentially dangerous animal.

"I felt a gator's mouth clamping down on my head. So, with all my strength, I reached up and I pried the gator's mouth off my head," said David Bostwick while resting at his home Monday evening. "It's the kind of thing you think can never happen to you."

Fifty stitches and a few staples later, Bostwick said he's grateful to be alive to tell the story of how he escaped the jaws of a Florida gator. Last Friday, he took his son canoeing in the Wekiva Springs State Park. The pair got out to swim not far from King's Landing near Kelly Park.

"(The alligator) was biting me from behind and I pried the gator off," he recalled. "He was actually big enough to get my whole head in his mouth."

Bleeding, Bostwick and his son jumped in the canoe and paddled to shore. A homeowner about 100 feet away took them to a nearby fire station, and paramedics took him to a hospital. Despite contact with several agencies, no one ever called to get the gator.

"I couldn't believe that Monday we started calling and absolutely nothing had been done," he said. "The park and all these places had been open -- business as usual all weekend."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed it is investigating what happened but had no record of the incident until Monday afternoon when the victim's wife called. A spokewoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the state park, referred questions to FWC.

Visitors to the park, hoping to go tubing downstream, had no idea.

"It's kind of scary to think that nothing happened to deter people from coming in," said Samantha Shye. "We were not even notified when we came into the park."

"It won't deter me from being here because I'm used to it," said Nick Cazessus. "But I think they should warn people because I saw plenty of people with kids."