DUNNELLON - Marion County Parks and Recreation has temporarily suspended access to swimming, tubing, diving and paddle boarding on the Rainbow River at KP Hole Park, 9425 SW 190th Road, Dunnellon, as a precaution due to reports of a large alligator upriver exhibiting aggressive behavior.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has a nuisance trapper actively pursuing the alligator.

Ron Cannon, 37, of Dunnellon, said that he and his 9-year-old daughter were swimming in the middle of the river just off the bank of some property owned by family members about a quarter-mile south of the headsprings a few minutes after 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

"I heard a tremendous commotion and knew it was a gator," Cannon said.

He said he heard thrashing about 80 to 100 yards away in a marshy area where there was underbrush. He said he immediately told his daughter to make her way to shore, and to hurry. He said he saw the gator's head and he could tell that the gator was swimming for them as fast as it could.

Watch a video about the situation: Aggressive gator forces officials to cancel swimming, tubing at KP Hole

"I wanted to get away from it," he said.

As the gator continued to "make a beeline for us," he said, he kept pushing his daughter forward.

As soon as she reached the dock and climbed up, he was right behind her. He said he turned to see the gator had stopped in the water and stayed on top and watched them.

"He didn't ever go down," Cannon said.

He said most of the gators in the river are 3 to 6 feet in length; this was an 8-footer, he estimated.

Cannon called FWC, and a representative and a contracted trapper soon showed up.

The gator, in the meantime, had disappeared. Cannon pointed out where he had seen the creature.

He said he also went to a property next door where he could hear people laughing and talking and warned them about the gator.

His wife, Tiffany Cannon, said, yes, they see gators all the time, but "nothing this big or this aggressive."

County parks director Jim Couillard said his office was contacted at 11:15 a.m. Thursday by the state Department of Environmental Protection about an aggressive gator.

Rainbow River State Park is under the state; KP Hole is a Marion County park. At the state park, people are allowed to swim inside a roped-off area at the headsprings. There are numerous private residences on the riverbanks all along the waterway. At KP Hole, people can swim or launch tubes, kayaks and canoes.

Couillard said state and county officials were monitoring the situation Thursday and that a trapper contracted through the FWC was looking for the gator Thursday night. He said the county decided to close KP Hole and issued that news Friday morning.

He said the action of the gator was "unusual behavior for a gator, usually they avoid people."

Although people know that most local bodies of water have alligators in them, and might question shutting down the water access, Couillard said he did not want to be in charge of a facility that is so popular in the summer and "turn a blind eye and have a worse issue."

"The chances of something happening are very slim, but if it did, it could be catastrophic," he said.

He said the gator "might have lost its fear; that's how people get hurt."

Jenny Allebach, from Odessa, which is near Tarpon Springs, arrived at 8:40 a.m. Friday at KP Hole with her teenage daughter and two of the girl's friends. Allebach said they came to go tubing on the river. She said someone mentioned that a gator had approached a person a couple of days ago. She and the girls decided to go kayaking instead, which was being allowed.

"We drove a long way and didn't want to turn around, or do nothing," Allebach said as they headed out.

Two employees with Rainbow River Canoe and Kayak, which is owned by Dunnellon Mayor Nathan Whitt, were busy helping kayakers into the water.

"We're intruding in their home," Jake Skelton said of the gator.

Ken Shaydik said that they were telling people who showed up to rent kayaks about the gator but that no one had declined to proceed. He said they had 18 to 20 customers during the early morning.

Wenda Howard said she comes to KP Hole a couple of times a year.

"We knew about the aggressive gator, but we are not concerned," she said over her shoulder as her kayak was guided into the water.

Daniel Cronin and his girlfriend LeAnn Thornton, from St. Pete, also make a long drive to the river. He said it was her first time visiting the area. They were going kayaking and he said they were not fazed by the warning about the gator and that if they saw it, they would "get away from it."

Couillard said he does not recall any such incident with a gator as long as he has been with parks and recreation, which is 10 years.

Marion County Parks and Recreation will lift the suspension when it is deemed safe to restart the activities, and will post updates on its website www.marionparksrec.org, and Facebook page www.Facebook.com/MarionCountyParksandRec.

For more information, contact Marion County Parks and Recreation at 352-671-8560.

— Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118 or austinmiller@ocala.com.