Authorities believe that a man may have been eaten alive by a monstrous alligator as a body was found in a pool of blood.
Horrific pictures and videos showed police standing around a huge alligator, which was covered in blood, after a body was found at about 2pm local time on Friday in Ridgecrest Park, Florida, US.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office are investigating but believe that the beastly animal may have been responsible for the man's death, with it thought that he had been mauled by it.
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However, it still remains unclear whether or not the alligator killed the man or if he had already been dead and the gigantic reptile was simply feeding on his corpse.
Local Jennifer Dean told BayNews9 that the alligator was the biggest she had ever seen and believed it may have slithered out from a nearby lake which is home to many more of the creatures.
She heard a gunshot as police arrived at the scene and assumed it was aimed at the alligator. It was then loaded on to a truck and taken away with it being unclear what it's fate was.
Another neighbour took to X, formerly Twitter, where they posted pictures of the scene. They said: "Alligator loaded onto truck. Sadly, we did see from chopper a human body pulled by divers from the canal."
Meanwhile, other residents heard a gunshot as police arrived at the scene and assumed it was aimed at the alligator. The beast was then loaded on to a truck and taken away with it being unclear what it's fate was.
Alligator's are often a nuisance in Florida, therefore a policy is implemented in the state under the FCC's Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program (SNAP).
Often the gators will be removed by using highly trained trappers which then relocate the creatures to remote areas when possible. However, in other cases, the animals are euthanised.
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