Deputies in St. Tammany Parish are investigating an apparent alligator attack that occurred Monday.
According to the sheriff's office, a Slidell resident contacted deputies after her 71-year-old husband was attacked and apparently killed by an alligator while walking in flood waters after Hurricane Ida.
The woman told deputies she was in her residence when she heard a commotion and went outside to see a large alligator attacking her husband. She ran to help stop the attack, and once she had done so, pulled her husband out of the water and returned inside to get first aid supplies, deputies say.
When she returned and realized the severity of his injuries, deputies say she immediately got into her pirogue and went to higher ground, approximately a mile away, to get help. When she returned, her husband was no longer lying on the steps where she had left him.
Deputies used high water vehicles and flatboats in an attempt to locate the man, but so far have been unsuccessful.
The incident is still under investigation.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith warned residents to be extra vigilant with walking in flooded areas as wildlife has been displaced during the hurricane, and alligators and other animals may have moved closer into neighborhoods.
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