Until recently though I never heard of gators coming on land to attack humans, plenty of pets however go missing all the time.
In 2002 a man was killed by a shark as he dived into St. Pete Bay from his dock.
We live on a golf course. There are gators in lots of the water hazards and lakes.
I know of several dogs, large dogs, that have gone missing over the past years. They took a 10 ft 4 in gator out of the lake in front of us after it killed a dog (a boxer), and another neighbor lost a German Shepherd to a gator.
But if the gator doesn't kill an animal, they usually leave it alone. We had a smaller one (4-5 ft) come across our front lawn and find it's way through the gate and into our back yard. Animal Control wouldn't respond, they just said, give it time and it'll return to the lake...which it did.
Our dog goes on a run everyday with my husband, but she doesn't seem to want to go into the lakes...she prefers to swim in swimming pools, LOL.
They don't come on land till the last second of your life... the short, sudden burst of speed they can generate is what does you in.
I disagree. I'm a second-generation native, and there is plenty of fresh water swimming that goes on here, especially in cleared, populated beach areas and springs.
I wouldn't recommend swimming at dawn or dusk or in any area that was wild or heavily vegetated.