A 10 year old girl prised open an alligator’s mouth and freed her leg after the animal attacked her during a swimming trip.
The child was about 10 feet away from the shore of Lake Mary Jane, near Orlando, Florida, when the 8-foot-9 inch alligator struck, snapping its teeth into her leg.
Despite the pain, the girl managed prise its mouth open and remove her leg before her family members rushed in to help.
She was treated for wounds to her knee and lower thigh after they rushed her to a nearby hospital.
“She had puncture wounds but I don’t think they’re life threatening”, said Chad Weber, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservative Commission (FWC).
Shortly after the incident, the alligator was caught and removed from the lake by a trapper.
Matt Sudermeyer, manager of the region’s parks, told The Orlando Sentinel officials would be conducting an extensive review before “making any decisions on opening the waterfront”.
As of September 2016, FWC said there have been 388 alligator attacks in the state of Florida since 1948, including 263 major documented cases and 24 fatal attacks.
In June last year, a two year old boy was killed after he was dragged into the water by an alligator near a Disney resort in Orlando.
At the time, Nick Wiley, a director at the FWC, said alligators typically do not feed on humans.
“People – even small people – are not their typical prey,” he said, adding that the alligator probably confused the small child for a dog or a raccoon.
