FORT MEADE, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office is conducting a death investigation after a man's body was found in a canal near an alligator.
Deputies say the body was found around 7:30 a.m. Thursday in the water on Mosaic property just off Peeples Road in Fort Meade.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is assisting the sheriff's office in the investigation.
Deputies say the body was pulled from the canal. A nearly 12 foot long, 449 pound alligator has been captured and a necropsy will be preformed, FWC says.
It's unknown at this time if the alligator is involved in the death.
An autopsy will determine how the man died and how long ago, deputies say. His identity is unknown at this time.
