Wildlife Officials Check On Watery Attack In Keys

KEY LARGO (CBS4) - There is something lurking in the waters off Key Largo that has the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission puzzled.

They've launched an investigation into a possible American crocodile attack on a couple in a kayak.

Mike Gregory and Leigha Poulson say something in the waters off Key Largo overturned their kayaks before dawn on April 28. Both reported suffering scratches and bites but neither saw what bit them. Gregory told The Key West Citizen that he initially thought a manatee had flipped their kayaks, until he realized he had been bitten.

In the mid 1970s the American crocodile was an endangered species with just about 300 left. That number has grown to 1,500 today. State wildlife officials say "conflicts between crocodiles and humans are still very rare."

In a statement last Thursday, the commission said it couldn't conclude what animal overturned the kayaks near the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)