Woman killed by Eagle Ray in Marathon

[Scubastud16]

I understand there was no wound, I was just commenting on how typical it was of the media to try and blame the death on the "supposed" wound with no truth to it.

 

[willardj]

I'm sorry for the family's loss. When it your time to go it's your time and this proves it. If she wasn't on that boat she would have been hit by a bus crossing the road. It's strange how things happen. Again sorry for the loss.

 

[Chipmon]

As has been stated, this is a horrible case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was watching our local news last night and they were washing down the boat the accident occured in. It appeared to have a great deal of blood on and around the starboard clete. My guess is the impact from the ray caused her to fll into the clete. Very sad.

 

[DixieDolphin]

That's a shame. Condolences to the family.

Eagle rays definitely do jump. When I worked at Discovery Cove, I'd see their spotted eagle rays jumping quite a bit in the morning and the evening. But until now, I'd never heard of one jumping IN a boat.. much less causing injury and leading to death. Wow.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

From the Associated Press

Head Injuries From Ray Killed Boater

By BRIAN SKOLOFF – 1 hour ago

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A boater who was killed when a ray jumped out of the water in the Florida Keys and hit her face died of skull fractures and brain injuries, not from the animal's poisonous barb, a medical examiner said Friday.

Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, a community leader around her hometown of Pigeon, Mich., was in the front of a boat going 25 mph on Thursday when a 75-pound spotted eagle ray leapt from the water and hit her in a freak collision.

Monroe County's medical examiner, Dr. Michael Hunter, determined that the cause of death was "blunt force" head injury and that the collision with the ray killed her off Marathon, about 50 miles northeast of Key West.

Hunter's report noted she suffered "multiple skull fractures and direct brain injury resulting in sudden death," said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

She was not stung by the ray. The collision knocked Zagorski backward, onto the floor of the boat, Pino said.

"The force of that impact was dramatic," he said.

The family requested that no autopsy be performed, Pino said.

Zagorski was vacationing with her family in Marathon. She was on the boat with her father, Virgil Bouck, 88, who was driving; her mother, Verneta; and her sister, Joyce Ann Miller, Pino said.

Zagorski's brother, Dan Bouck, called her a "truly awesome sister" who volunteered to work with terminally ill patients and operated a marina.

Her husband of 33 years, Steve, also died unexpectedly two years ago from complications after shoulder surgery, he said.

"We all miss Judy dearly. It just really hasn't even sunk in yet," Bouck said Friday.

In the 1990s, Judy and Steve Zagorski helped organize the Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival, a Caribbean-style celebration in the Saginaw Bay resort town of Caseville, Mich., The Saginaw News reported.

"Judy was pretty energetic, very motivated and willing to help anyone," Steve Louwers, Caseville Chamber of Commerce president, told the newspaper.

Spotted eagle rays can grow to about 17 feet long, including the tail, and weigh up to 500 pounds. Some have wingspans as wide as 10 feet.

They are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail for defense.

While they are known to occasionally jump out of the water to escape predators, remove parasites or give birth, collisions with humans are "unheard of," Pino said. "It was a freak, freak accident."

Spotted eagle rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming in groups near the ocean's surface.

Ray encounters may be rare, but they do happen.

In 2006, a South Florida man was critically injured when a stingray flopped into his boat and stung him. James Bertakis, 82, of Lighthouse Point, underwent surgery after the stingray left a foot-long barb in his heart. He has since recovered.

"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was killed in 2006 when a stingray's barb pierced his heart off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

 

[tltracy]

My heart goes out to those who loved her.

 

[HarleyDiver_FL]

Another Man Vs Nature. Nature will always win as it should. We are placed here to try and co-exist with Nature. Unfortunately, Man has failed to understand the delicate nature of this world. We have boats, planes, trains, and every other concevable form of entertaiment. Most of us in the diving world understand Nature a little more due to our own curiosity of the waters which surround us. We se things that land dwellers will never imagine. We live life to it's fullest potential leaving as little mark possible on this earth. We dive and swim next to some of Mother Natures greatest gifts. We are divers! We love what we do! We respect the great deep blue whether it be in a pool or a depth's others can not comprehend in the least. We send our condolences to the family's of those lost through boating, diving, car, motorcycle, or whatever accident may be the cause of losing a loved one. We wil continue to persue our passions again trying to leave nothing behind and taking only memories away when we go. Nature is not our enemy, Man is! I pray the Ray's are not persicuted for such an accident.

 

[Bratface]

You're right, of course - that was pretty insensitive, but I fixed it.

private message was sent to augie. I applaude his reaction. He is a true gentleman.