Alligator Attack Claims Landscape Contractor

SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. -- Janie Melsek’s death Friday morning had many people on Sanibel talking about the same thing –alligators.

“I think it’s pretty scary, I’ll tell you that,” said Elaine Smith, a customer service representative at Bank of the Islands. “I think they shouldn’t let them get that big. They should move the big ones to where they’re not around people.”

A 54-year-old landscaper, Melsek was attacked Wednesday by an alligator that was 11 feet, 9 inches long and weighed 457 pounds.

She died at 9:15 a.m. Friday during surgery at Lee Memorial Hospital as doctors tried to combat the infection that spread through her body.

The cause of death was listed as “systemic inflammatory response syndrome.”

Smith had known Melsek, who was a bank customer, for 23 years.

“We’ve had too many attacks recently, I think,” said Smith, 62. “Poor Janie is the one who had to suffer for it.”

Many people were calling for city officials to do something about the reptiles that have attacked three people on Sanibel since September 2001, killing two of them.

At Bailey’s General Store, employees Anastasia Cardenas, John Howsmon and Travis Rudder talked about gators as they took a break from work.

“It’s sad to see people can’t go out in the yard and garden,” said Cardenas, 34. “They need to do something about it.”

“It’s unbelievable,” said Rudder, 39. “They say there’s 300 of them on this island.”

Howsmon, 54, said the gator population needs to be thinned.

“You can’t relocate them,” he said. “They find their way back is what they do.”

Not everyone agreed.

About 50 yards from where Cardenas and her co-workers took a smoke, Andrew Myerson, 39, sat in a small clearing next to a creek where gators are seen so often that signs warn visitors that it’s against the law to feed them.

“I don’t know if I agree with the brunt of the people – blaming the alligator,” Myerson said. “They attack somebody and they take them out and kill them. They’re just being alligators. We’ve encroached upon their turf. What do we expect?”

According to the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Melsek was the 14th person to be killed by a gator in Florida since 1973.

The 12th was Robert Steele, 81, who died on Sept. 11, 2001, after being bitten near his home off Rabbit Road, not far from where Melsek was attacked.

Jane C. Keefer, 74, of Sanibel, was attacked April 21 by a gator in the yard of her Blue Heron Drive home. She suffered a broken thumb and gashes on a leg.

Sanibel officials plan to meet Tuesday, Aug. 3, to discuss city policies on gators, which Councilman Steve Brown says may be too liberal.

Sanibel has a special permit from the state allowing it to move gators under 8 feet long that get in the way of humans as long as they’re not acting aggressively.

Police Chief Bill Tomlinson said he’s been asked to make a presentation on city policies and the alligator complaints the city has recorded.

He wouldn’t speculate on what, if anything, the council may do.

Mayor Marty Harrity met Friday with directors of the Sanibel and Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce. A chamber employee told a reporter the meeting was about alligators.

Chamber Executive Director Steve Greenstein insisted that wasn’t true. Harrity couldn’t be reached for comment.

Greenstein said he’s not worried Sanibel – which depends heavily on tourism – could become known as a dangerous place because of gators.

“I don’t know that we’re getting a reputation for it,” Greenstein said. “I think it’s up to the city of Sanibel to decide if their policy is appropriate and they’ll take whatever action is necessary to protect the public.”

The attack on Melsek made headlines internationally because of a heroic effort to save her by several men who heard her screams and Sanibel Police officers who rushed to her aid.

As the gator tried to drag Melsek into the same small pond it came out of, she told rescuers to cut her arm off to help her get free.

The gator released Melsek after a five- to 10-minute tug of war with the gator on one side of her and police on the other.

Police shot the reptile to death before rushing Melsek to Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers.

Steve Yetsko, 52, who lives around the bend from the house at 3061 Poinciana Circle where Melsek was working when she was attacked, was among those who ran to her aid.

Yetsko and his wife, Donna Yetsko, 51, were doing yard work of their own Friday when they learned Melsek had died.

“I thought she was pulling through,” Steve Yetsko said. “To have it end this way is just so sad.”

Donna Yetsko recalled seeing the gator that attacked Melsek at least twice a week.

“It usually sat on the bank across the pond,” she said. “It never was a problem.”

Steve Yetsko – who called Sanibel police officers the real heroes in Melsek’s rescue – said he’s never had a serious problem with a gator.

“Obviously, there’s more people moving onto the island,” he said. “We’re invading their territory. It seems to have worked for years. Why we’re all of a sudden having a problem – if what we’ve had is a problem – I don’t know.”

Before returning to his chores in a thicket next to his house, Yetsko said he hopes Sanibel residents can continue to live “in harmony with nature.”

“I guess you can do it,” he said. “You’ve got to be careful.”