Motorcyclists strike alligator on one of Florida’s busiest highways

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ORANGE CITY, Fla. — Two motorcyclists hit a 6-foot alligator in the middle of one of Florida’s busiest highways, sending both bikers to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

A 67-year-old man and 25-year-old woman riding in a group of motorcyclists on Interstate 4 Saturday evening near Orange City, Florida, struck the alligator, Lt. Tara Crescenzi, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol, said Monday in an email.

The impact caused both motorcyclists to veer off the highway, and the man’s motorcycle crashed into a tree. Both riders were taken to a nearby hospital, Crescenzi said.

“I’m blessed, I was protected,” motorcyclist Cameron Gilmore told Orlando television station WKMG. “I just remember one of my friends swerving, and I’m looking at him swerving, and the gator’s like 10 feet in front of me.”

Gilmore suffered road rash and some broken bones in a foot.

Orange City is about 30 miles (48 kilometres) northeast of Orlando, and the speed limit on that stretch of highway is 60 m.p.h. (96.5 km/h). Interstate 4 stretches across central Florida from Tampa to Daytona Beach.

Florida wildlife officers were called to trap the injured alligator. A spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Monday didn’t respond to an inquiry seeking information about the gator’s condition.

Alligators are found in all of Florida’s 67 counties, and the state’s population numbers around 1.3 million. Despite those numbers, injuries from alligators are rare, according to the Florida wildlife commission.