Sharks Released Off Coast

Two nurse sharks at the University of Georgia aquarium on Skidaway Island have been given a more spacious home - the Atlantic Ocean. Aquarium staffers released the two sharks off Ossabaw Island yesterday at an artificial reef after attempts to find them a home at the Charleston and Georgia aquariums failed.

The nurse sharks had outgrown their tank. One was named Hoover for the suctioning noise he made while he ate. He was in captivity for nine years. The other, a newer one, was called his girlfriend.

Nurse sharks can be found in shallow coastal waters of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific. Scientists say they rarely bite humans.

(Associated Press)

Alligator attack in Savannah

An 83 year-old woman was attacked and killed by an alligator in Savannah over the weekend. Golfers on Skidaway Island spotted the body of Gwen Williams in a pond on Saturday. Investigators say this is the first death from an alligator attack in Georgia in 27 years. The alligator responsible for the death was trapped and removed today.

Alligator attack kills woman on Skidaway Island

Authorities along the Georgia coast say an elderly woman found dead over the weekend was the victim of an alligator attack. 83-year-old Gwen Williams was found Saturday in a pond, about 500 feet from the home she was house-sitting for relatives. The body was missing its left arm, right hand and right foot. An autopsy showed the woman died of blood loss from wounds consistent of an alligator attack. Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources say it’s the eighth known alligator attack in Georgia since 1980--and the first fatal.

Construction on a Savannah bridge to speed up

State transportation officials say they are moving as quickly as possible to replace the Skidaway Narrows Bridge.

The Georgia Department of Transporation has labeled the 37-year-old bridge "structurally deficient."

It is the only link to the mainland for more than 6,000 residents of Skidaway Island. Lack of funding to replace the bridge have caused years of construction delays.

Six people died in Minneapolis last week when a 40-year-old bridge collapsed.