Last Sunday, a 25-year old man from Tampa, Florida was attacked and bit on the head by an alligator in the Myakka River in the southwestern region of the state.
The expected irony? The guy was diving for shark teeth.
Jeffrey Heim, a commercial spear fisherman, said that he was searching for fossilized Megalodon shark teeth in the river. Then he came up for a breath “and I felt like I got hit by a boat going 50 miles an hour. Felt like a propeller to the head, and it pulled me down."
But that was no boat, it was an alligator. After the beast let go, Heim came up and saw the gator glaring at him from about four feet away.
Heim, who clearly has some experience in wading around Floridian waters, explained, "Then he started coming at me. I just learned from dealing with sharks, you don't wanna act like prey so you don't wanna move too fast. So, I started slowly moving away."
Heim was bitten on his head and one of his hands, his skull was fractured, and 34 staples were needed to close the wound. He was released from Sarasota Memorial Hospital on Monday.
Despite his injuries, Heim said he felt "lucky" that he was not more severely injured: "I'm lucky it didn't death roll. I'm lucky it didn't get an arm, or a hand, or my face, or my neck, or my leg, or literally anywhere else."
He further explained that the head bite landed right at the perfect spot where the force of the teeth didn’t fully crush the skull. “He could have got me anywhere else and I would have died," said Heim.
The adventurer has set up a GoFundMe account to help with medical costs, and has already raised $2,300 of the six-grand goal.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission -- as is the agency's policy following attacks on humans -- assured that a licensed nuisance trapper would work to remove the gator.
Like a true nature lover, Heim accepted his risk and realized he’s the intruder here. "I was in its territory. I didn't weigh the risk to the rewards. Technically it's gator mating season, so this was probably a female protecting her eggs."
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