It is not everyday that one would casually be attacked by an alligator in the middle of a river. In a rare incident, an alligator slammed into a kayaker’s boat.
According to a report published in CNN, Pete Joyce was exploring a part of North Carolina when the incident took place.
Pete’s boat was attacked by an alligator while he was making his way through a swampy section of the water body. The charge was so powerful that he fell off the boat. Fortunately, he managed to hold on to tree branches so that his boat did not turn upside down. The entire incident was recorded on his video camera which he was wearing around his chest.
He told CNN, "The video doesn't really do justice to the impact because it hit hard enough that it was able to displace my balance and that's where I started to roll".
Once Pete got hold of himself, he banged the side of his kayak thrice in order to scare the reptile away. After which, he instantly got hold of his paddle and fled away from the spot as fast as he could. He was in a rush as he feared that the alligator might be chasing him.
At first, Pete thought it was a fish jumping near the bank.
"When it was about three feet from the side of the boat is when I actually got a good look at the head," he said. "Not enough time to really react, anyway".
However, Alicia Davis, an alligator biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, mentioned that there is a possibility that the alligator too would have been scared and would have perhaps gone in an entirely different direction.
On the other, she also mentioned that it could also have been a female alligator as they have a tendency to intimidate anyone who comes too close to their nest. Alicia added, "It could have been a female that was trying to intimidate him, maybe a little bit, because they are a little bit aggressive around their nests. Mostly they try to intimidate you if you get too close."
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