LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A Central Florida man is recovering after being bitten by an alligator.
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The man was fishing at a Leesburg-area lake Sunday when the attack happened, Lake County Fire Rescue said.
It happened off Grand Vista Trail shortly before 4:30 p.m.
A witness reported seeing the gator attacking the man and reported bystanders trying to help him.
SEE: 9 of Florida’s most dangerous animals
9 of Florida's most dangerous animals (WFTV)
American alligator (WFTV)
Alligator portrait close up (George Shelley Productions/Getty Images)
Alligator returned to zoo after 20 years Tewa, a female alligator stolen from a zoo as a baby, has been return 20 years after her kidnapping. (SUSAN RYDBERG/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Alligator Authorities said a woman died in an alligator attack on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. (passion4nature/Getty Images/iStockphoto, File)
Alligator bites off part of man’s leg (www.artushfoto.eu/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
‘See you later, alligator’: Officers take 9-foot alligator into custody near Tampa Bay stadium (Bkamprath/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Alligator attack: File photo. A 7 1/2-foot-long alligator attacked a snorkeler on Monday in a north-central Florida spring. (Bob D'Angelo/Cox Media Group )
Elderly woman dies after alligator attack in Florida (passion4nature/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Eastern diamond back rattlesnake (WFTV)
Diamondback rattlesnake The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest and most dangerous of the snakes that are native to Florida. (Luke Smith)
Eastern diamondback The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest and most dangerous of the snakes that are native to Florida. (Steve A. Johnson, U.S. Geological Society)
Rattlesnake, uranium, whiskey found during traffic stop A Texas man who thought “a few” snakes were under his house called professionals to remove the reptiles -- and learned 45 rattlesnakes had made themselves at home! (skeeze/Pixabay)
The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake is the largest of the rattlesnake species, according to the University of Georgia. They are active all summer long, especially in the morning and evening. CONTRIBUTED BY SRELHERP.UGA.EDU
Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes WHAT: Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes - An urban legend claims that a 15-foot Eastern Diamondback was found in Florida. Though later proven to be false, this deadly snake can grow to 8 feet in length. (Kristian Bell)
Diamondback rattlesnake The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest and most dangerous of the snakes that are native to Florida. (Luke Smith)
Eastern Diamondback snakes are the largest of the 32 species of rattlesnakes, according to Snake Facts.
Bull shark (WFTV)
Bull shark: A bull shark tried to take a bite out of the back of a boat as fishermen attempted to catch cobia. (Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A bull shark, similar to one that apparently attacked a Texas man, is pictured here. Photo: Wikicommons
Shark attacks, kills Pennsylvania woman snorkeling in Bahamas Stock photo of a bull shark. A Pennsylvania woman is dead after a shark attacked her during a snorkeling excursion in the Bahamas, officials said. (George Karbus Photography/Getty Images/Image Source)
10-year-old boy loses part of leg in shark attack while snorkeling in Florida File photo. The family said that they believed the shark was an 8-foot-long bull shark. (amanda cotton/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) swims through deep water off Mexico Yucatan Peninsula.
Black widow spider (WFTV)
Fire officials say they believe a man trying to get rid of black widow spiders used a blowtorch and caught a house on fire.
black widow (Cortesy Wikipedia Common)
Black Widow spider (Q13Fox)
5-year-old bitten by Black Widow Spider in Mendon Black widow spider's body is about a third of an inch long but it has legs up to one and a third inches long. As dangerous as the name sounds, this spider is timid. Its first method of defense is to drop from its web and pretend to be dead.
GF Default - Firefighters ? Man Sets Home on Fire Trying to Kill Black Widow Spider with Blowtorch
(Photo) Black Widow spider (Photo) Black Widow spider
A Connecticut woman and her son had a close encounter with a black widow spider found crawling through a bunch of grapes. Photo: Pixabay
Florida cottonmouth (WFTV)
Cottonmouth Cottonmouth snakes are found in every Florida county. (Todd Pierson)
Cottonmouth moved out the street so it wouldnt get hit... dont kill snakes.
Western cottonmouth Western cottonmouth
Juvenile cottonmouth This species loves water and can be found along stream banks, in swamps, on the margins of lakes and in tree-bordered marshes. (Steve A. Johnson, U.S. Geological Society)
Cottonmouth Cottonmouth snakes are found in every Florida county. (Steve A. Johnson, University of Florida)
Cottonmouth snake captured in Lake Mary
When WFTV reporter Jeff Levkulich reported live from Florida's Seminole County on Tuesday afternoon, he was joined by animal expert Bob Cross and a very big, angry water moccasin.
American crocodile (WFTV)
crocodile FILE PHOTO: Florida wildlife officials removed an unwanted visitor from a home Tuesday -- a 12-foot crocodile. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Crocodile: A pier in Pompano Beach was a resting place for a crocodile on Monday morning. (City of Pompano Beach)
American Crocodile
Crocodile spotted: File photo. A Florida-based wildlife photographer captured photographs and videos of "Croczilla," a 14-foot American crocodile, in Everglades National Park. (National Park Service)
crocodile MIAMI, FL - SEPTEMBER 11: A crocodile is seen at the Dinner Key marina after hurricane Irma passed through the area on September 11, 2017 in Miami, Florida. Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, lashing the state with 130 mph winds as it moved up the coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle)
Crocodile File photo of a crocodile
Police: Man arrested after crocodile, snakes and lizards removed from home
Florida black bear (WFTV)
Watch: Black bear roams southwest Florida golf community in viral videos, photos Stock photo of a black bear. A black bear appears to be making itself at home in a southwest Florida golf community. (Mlorenzphotography/Getty Images)
9 Florida men accused of baiting, abusing black bears FILE PHOTO (Peupleloup (Own work) [FAL], via Wikimed)
black bear FILE PHOTO: A Florida man was on his porch Wednesday evening when he was attacked by a black bear, wildlife officials said. (Pixabay/Pixabay)
Florida man accused of deliberately killing black bear and her cub
Black Bear (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
Florida considers first black-bear hunting season in two decades A black bear wanders through its enclosure at the Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society on Thursday, August 14, 2014 in West Palm Beach. The black bears are part of the Art Gone Wild program in which animals create paintings that are sold to raise money to take care of the zoo animals. (Madeline Gray / The Palm Beach Post) (Madeline Gray)
Boat bear FILE PHOTO: A yacht club in Florida had an unexpected visitor. (steverts/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Black bear captured at a Florida airport ( Tampa International Airport /Tampa International Airport)
Wild hog (WFTV)
Florida community seeking help for aggressive wild hogs File photo. A wild boar tromping through a wetland in Florida. (Matt Cuda/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
WHAT: Wild boars - Wild boar can be aggressive when cornered and some have tusks up to 6-inches long.
Wild boars wreaking havoc, on the prowl for mates in Florida Wild boars wreaking havoc, on the prowl for mates in Florida
Wild boar or wild pig Wild pig stock photo. Credit: DeAgostini / Getty Images
Wild boars run rampant in Texas town. File photo. (Yuval Helfman/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Remote cameras operated by motion detectors captured these photos of wild boars.
Wild boar Wild boars, like the one pictured in this file photo, reportedly have been destroying Lehigh Acres residents' lawns. (Sstaton/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Burmese python (WFTV)
Biologists in Florida capture record-breaking 215-pound, 18-foot-long python This Feb. 2022 photo provided by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida shows biologist Ian Bartoszek with a 15-foot female Burmese python captured by tracking a male scout snake in Picayune Strand State Forest. (Conservancy of Southwest Florida via AP) (Conservancy of Southwest Florida/AP)
Biologists in Florida capture record-breaking 215-pound, 18-foot-long python This March 2022 photo provided by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida shows biologists Ian Easterling, left, and Ian Bartoszek with a 14-foot female Burmese python captured in mangrove habitat of southwestern Florida while tracking a male scout snake. (Conservancy of Southwest Florida via AP) (AP)
2 mama pythons, several hatchlings and eggs found in Florida preserve Stock photo of a Burmese python. Two mother pythons, several hatchlings and nearly two dozen unhatched eggs recently were removed from a southwest Florida wildlife preserve, officials said. (Hillary Kladke/Getty Images)
Snake seizure FILE PHOTO: A man in Utah is accused of not having permits to own 20 Burmese pythons. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Florida teenager catches 28 pythons File photo. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Andy Wraithmell/Florida Fish and)
Hunters Gather In Florida Everglades To Capture Pythons In "Python Bowl" SUNRISE, FLORIDA - JANUARY 10: A python is seen as Robert Edman, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, gives a python-catching demonstration to potential snake hunters at the start of the Python Bowl 2020 on January 10, 2020 in Sunrise, Florida. The Florida Python Challenge 2020 Python Bowl taking place a few weeks before the Super Bowl being held in Miami Gardens, is a 10-day competition to remove Burmese pythons from the Florida Everglades due to the threat to the delicate ecosystem that they pose as they have no predators and reproduce rapidly. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Burmese Python
Burmese python FILE PHOTO: A Florida man snared a nearly 17-foot python while hunting for the invasive snakes in the Everglades. ( Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
Read: Alligator or crocodile? Here’s how Floridians can tell the difference
The man was able to get free of the animal and was rushed to the hospital.
We’re told state wildlife officials may be working to locate the alligator.
Read: Woman in her 20s shot to death in Orange County
Monitor WFTV.com and watch Eyewitness News for updates to this story.
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Pygmy rattlesnake The pygmy rattlesnake, which is also known as the ground rattler, is found in every county in Florida. (Steve A. Johnson, U.S. Geological Survey)
Pygmy rattlesnake The pygmy rattlesnake, which is also known as the ground rattler, is found in every county in Florida. (Todd Pierson)
Pygmy rattlesnake The pygmy rattlesnake, which is also known as the ground rattler, is found in every county in Florida. (Todd Pierson)
Cottonmouth Cottonmouth snakes are found in every Florida county. (Steve A. Johnson, University of Florida)
Cottonmouth Cottonmouth snakes are found in every Florida county. (Todd Pierson)
Cottonmouth Cottonmouth snakes are found in every Florida county. (Todd Pierson)
Juvenile cottonmouth This species loves water and can be found along stream banks, in swamps, on the margins of lakes and in tree-bordered marshes. (Steve A. Johnson, U.S. Geological Society)
Eastern diamondback The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest and most dangerous of the snakes that are native to Florida. (Steve A. Johnson, U.S. Geological Society)
Diamondback rattlesnake The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest and most dangerous of the snakes that are native to Florida. (Luke Smith)
Diamondback rattlesnake The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest and most dangerous of the snakes that are native to Florida. (Luke Smith)
Canebrake rattlesnake The canebrake snake can be distinguished by its grayish-brown or pinkish buff color, with dark bands across its body and a brown or black tail with a rattle at the end. (Steve A. Johnson, University of Florida)
Canebrake rattlesnake The canebrake snake can be distinguished by its grayish-brown or pinkish buff color, with dark bands across its body and a brown or black tail with a rattle at the end. (Jason C. Seitz)
Copperhead Florida is the southern boundary of where copperheads are found, which means it's rare to spot the snake in most of the state. (bobbyfingers/iNaturalist)
Copperhead Florida is the southern boundary of where copperheads are found, which means it's rare to spot the snake in most of the state. (Steve A. Johnson, University of Florida)
Coral snake FWC officials say the coral snake’s venom is the most potent of any snake in North America. (Todd Pierson)
Coral snake FWC officials say the coral snake’s venom is the most potent of any snake in North America. (Todd Pierson)