Investigators from the Davie Police Department returned to a scene at the edge of the Everglades on Tuesday – the place where a body was found being eaten by two alligators. 
 
 Officers were searching the canal bank for any clues that could lead to the identity of the person, or help determine how the person got there, said Davie Police Capt. Dale Engle. 
 
 "We are treating this as a homicide until we find otherwise," said Engle. 
 
 The alligators are not suspected of killing the person, whose gender had not been determined, Engle said. 
 
 The body "appeared to have been in the canal for some time," and the reptiles had consumed the body's midsection, Engle said. 
 
 On Monday, two fishermen called the police after encountering the scene in a canal west of U.S. 27 and north of Sheridan Street in the town of Southwest Ranches in western Broward County. 
 
 They're mean, they're green... they're gators. Actually, alligators are more black than green, but these huge reptiles do pack a powerful punch. Although their numbers were dwindling a few years ago, they have come back with a vengence in recent years. 
 
 Officers from the Davie, which patrols Southwest Ranches, arrived and attempted to scare off the alligators, said Davie Police Capt. Dale Engle. Although the animals retreated, he said, they lingered nearby. 
 
 A dive team was called in, as officers armed with AR-15 rifles stood ready to shoot any approaching alligators. An alligator trapper from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was sent to the scene. 
 
 When the body was removed from the water about 10 p.m., four alligators were seen in the area, Engle said. 
 
 The Broward County Medical Examiner will attempt to determine the cause of death. 
 
 Mike Stocker Authorities gather at the scene in Southwest Ranches where two alligators were found eating a dead body. Authorities gather at the scene in Southwest Ranches where two alligators were found eating a dead body. (Mike Stocker) (Mike Stocker) 
 
 "We want to identify who the victim is and possibly figure out what happened to them and how did they end up here," said Sgt. Pablo Castaneda, of the Davie Police. "Could it be homicide? Could it be suicide? Could it have involved a fisherman? We don't know." 
 
 Amy Moore, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said it was too soon to tell whether the alligators killed the victim or were just scavenging on the remains. 
 
 "If we determine that an alligator was the cause, then we'll go back and recover it," she said. 
 
 Staff photographer Mike Stocker contributed to this report. 
 
 dfleshler@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4535 ||||| Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter 
 
 DAVIE (CBSMiami) – Two fishermen made a gruesome discovery Monday in a canal on the edge of the Everglades. 
 
 According to Davie police, the duo found a human body with at least one alligator feeding on it. Police said the fishermen immediately called 911. 
 
 “In my time at Davie, I’ve never come across a case where you have alligators getting at remains but I’m sure it’s happened before,” said Sgt. Pablo Castaneda. 
 
 Castaneda said it appeared one gator – possibly more – fed on the remains but that the body appeared largely intact once it was brought out of the water. 
 
 Davie police divers recovered the remains and searched in the murky water for any clues about who the person might be. 
 
 “We’re not able to determine male or female,” Castaneda said. “We’re not able to determine race.” 
 
 Police officers with assault rifles and gator trappers stood watch as divers checked the water in case a gator got too close. However, police told CBS4 no gators were harmed. 
 
 The Broward County Medical Examiner and Davie police will work to solve the mystery of who this person was and how they got there. 
 
 “What happened to them? How did they end up here? Could it be a homicide, could it be a suicide, could it be natural, a fisherman? We don’t know. That’s what the next step is to figure that out,” Castaneda said. 
 
 Police said it appears the body had been in the water for at least a few days. ||||| The body of a 2-year-old Nebraska boy was found Wednesday after he was snatched by an alligator at a lake in Walt Disney World. He's one of 16 people killed in alligator attacks in Florida since 1997. 
 
 Here are the other 15 fatal encounters. 
 
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 Nov. 23, 2015: Brevard County deputies determined that Matthew Riggins, 22, was killed by an alligator in a Barefoot Bay lake while possibly hiding to avoid law enforcement. Divers recovered his body with injuries consistent with an alligator attack nine days after he was reported missing by his girlfriend, who said he told her he was going to commit burglaries. A nearby alligator behaved aggressively toward divers, and was trapped and euthanized. 
 
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 Oct. 19, 2015: The body of 62-year-old James Okkerse was found floating in Blue Springs State Park in central Florida with injuries consistent with an alligator attack. A 12-foot alligator had been spotted in the lake twice the day before, forcing the park to close temporarily each time. Authorities shot the alligator. Friends said Okkerse swam there every day. 
 
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 Nov. 8, 2007: A man who jumped into a lake to flee police at the Miccosukee Resort and Convention Center was killed by an alligator more than 9 feet long. Divers found the body of Justo Antonio Padron, 36, the next afternoon, with alligator teeth marks on the torso. The alligator believed to be responsible was killed. 
 
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 May 14, 2006: Near Lake George in the Ocala National Forest, the body of 23-year-old Annemarie Campbell was found sticking out of an alligator's mouth by her friends, who beat the reptile until it released her. Campbell was a Tennessee visitor snorkeling in a secluded recreation area. The 11-foot-4-inch, 407-pound alligator was euthanized. 
 
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 May 13, 2006: The body of Judy W. Cooper, 43, was found in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg. Trappers caught and killed an 8-1/2-foot alligator that had her body parts in its belly. 
 
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 May 10, 2006: The dismembered body of Yovy Suarez-Jimenez, 28, was found by construction workers in a canal in Broward County. She had toxic levels of alcohol and an anti-depression drug in her body. Authorities believed she was attacked on land and dragged. 
 
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 July 15, 2005: An alligator more than 12 feet long grabbed 41-year-old Kevin Murray by the arm as he swam in Apollo Waterway and pulled him underwater as neighbors watched. A trapper killed the alligator. 
 
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 March 11, 2005: Donald Ray Owen, 56, was found dead in Six Pound Pond near Lakeland in Polk County with alligator bites and an arm amputated below the elbow. The 9-foot-8-inch male alligator was caught and killed. 
 
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 Sept. 26, 2004: Georgia college student Michelle Reeves, 20, drowned after an alligator bit off part of her arm while she apparently went skinny-dipping in a Fort Myers lake. An alligator was trapped and removed from the area. 
 
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 July 23, 2004: Landscaper Janie Melsek, 54, died from a severe infection two days after she was mauled by a 12-foot, 457-pound alligator on Sanibel Island. The alligator dragged her into a pond, tearing at her arm so severely that part of it was later amputated. Rescuers saved her from the reptile's jaws in a tug-of-war. 
 
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 June 18, 2003: A 12-year-old boy was mauled by an alligator while swimming at Palm Gardens Marina, about 35 miles northwest of Orlando. Bryan Griffin was pulled under after friends repeatedly warned him to exit the water. Trappers later killed 10 alligators in the Dead River, including one they decided was responsible. 
 
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 Sept. 11, 2001, 82-year-old Robert Steele had his leg severed and bled to death when he was attacked by a 10-foot alligator while walking his dog by a Sanibel Island canal. The alligator, found with the leg in his mouth, was killed. 
 
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 June 23, 2001: A 2-year-old girl wandered from her Winter Haven backyard to a lake and was killed by a 6 1/2-foot alligator. The body of Alexandria Murphy was found near the shoreline of Lake Cannon in Winter Haven an hour after her family reported her missing. A trapper killed the alligator suspected. 
 
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 May 4, 2001: The chewed body of 70-year-old Samuel Wetmore was found floating in a Sarasota County retention pond with an 8-foot alligator circling nearby. Wetmore suffered from dementia and was believed to have wandered away from home. 
 
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 March 22, 1997: An 11-foot alligator was discovered swimming protectively near the body of 3-year-old Adam Binford in a lake in Volusia County, a mile from where he'd disappeared the day before. His mother said he'd been standing in knee-deep water picking water lilies for her. She heard a splash and when she turned around her son was gone. The 450-pound alligator was killed. 
 
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 Sources: The Associated Press, except for the March 11, 2005, item from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
– Fishermen at the edge of the Florida Everglades made a horrifying discovery Monday: two alligators eating away at a human body, the Sun Sentinel reports. After the alligators were scared off, divers recovered the body while officers stood guard with AR-15 rifles. According to CBS Miami, the body was largely intact, but it appeared to have spent a few days in the water. Police were not able to immediately determine a gender or race, but tell the Sun Sentinel the alligators found the body, but did not kill the person. “What happened to them?" CBS quotes a police sergeant as saying. "How did they end up here? Could it be a homicide, could it be a suicide, could it be natural, a fisherman? We don’t know.” (Man-eating crocodiles were recently discovered in Florida). Elsewhere in the state, an absolutely massive alligator was caught on video trundling across a golf course.