June 18 (UPI) — An alligator attacked a homeless Florida man while he was swimming in Lake Monroe before dawn Sunday morning, amputating his arm at the elbow. He survived the attack.

The man told Florida Fish and Wildlife officials he was swimming in the lake in Seminole County about 2 a.m. when the gator attacked.

Authorities said the case remained under investigation and did not give details on the man’s identity or his current condition.

Brandon Fisher, a gator expert at Florida’s Gatorland, told WFTV that dusk and dawn are the main feeding and breeding times for alligators. To go swimming in almost any Florida waterway at that time, where more than 1.5 million gators live, is in general, a bad idea.

“They’re hunting, you know, toward their prey items,” Fisher said. “So, swimming around water, splashing around, making a lot of noise, possibly attracts alligators.”

Last month, a Houston Police dive team recovered the body of a missing woman and an alligator from Horsepen Bayou. Officers who were searching for the woman spotted the gator taking bites out of her remains.

It was not clear if the woman, who was in her 60s, died from the gator bites or by other causes before the encounter. A police sergeant shot and killed the alligator, which allowed authorities to safely recover the woman’s body.