MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – A woman bitten on the arm by an alligator in the Silver River on the afternoon of Saturday, August 8, 2026, has lost the arm, according to multiple reports.

Social media was rife with misinformation in the wake of the incident, and multiple claims were made about the location where and circumstances under which the woman was bitten.

Some of the digital smoke has cleared, however, and here are the facts that have emerged.

What we know

  • The incident occurred at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday.
  • The incident occurred near Ray Wayside Boat Launch, a popular gathering spot and traditional endpoint for kayakers and canoeists paddling the river from Silver Springs State Park.
  • The woman was bitten on the arm.
  • Boaters pulled the woman (and others) from the water and gave emergency first aid while ferrying her to the shore, including using a handy rope as a tourniquet.
  • The woman survived a traumatic right-arm amputation at the hospital, and is recovering at home.
  • The Silver River was temporarily closed but reopened Sunday, after authorities “removed” a 9-foot, 8-inch alligator from the area.

As far as what the woman was doing at the time she was bitten, reports continue to vary. Some said she was splashing on a boogie board; other narratives claim she was reaching into the water to steady herself while getting out of a kayak or piloting a paddleboard.

According to a Sunday report by Fox 13 Tampa Bay 35 Orlando (the Tampa affiliate picked up the story), the woman was actually swimming in the river with a group of people when she was bitten. This version was corroborated by the boaters who helped save the woman’s life, one of whom, John Camache, recounted seeing the alligator heading toward “a group of swimmers,” and having to pull the woman and others from the water, though he said she was holding on to a paddleboard after being bitten.

Though there has been a recent resurgence in the calls to open a portion of Silver Springs or the Silver River to public swimming, the activity is currently still prohibited.