10-year-old sets self free from alligator

A 10-year-old girl in Orlando, Florida managed to free herself from the jaws of a 9-foot-long alligator, according to Florida wildlife officials.

The girl was sitting in shallow water in Orange County's Moss park when she was attacked by an alligator which was roughly twice her size. A witness overheard the girl's screams from the shore.



“I realised that she was screaming that she got bit by an alligator,” witness Emilio Aquino told Fox News. “At this point, I couldn’t see anything, but a couple of seconds later, I saw the alligator so I ran towards the water.”

Using all her strength, the 10-year-old fought back by poking the alligator in its nose, a trick she had learned at a gator-themed adventure park, her father claimed to ABC News.

Professional alligator wrangler applauded the 10-year-old's actions. “If you were ever in a position where an alligator were to grab ahold of you, then the nose, not the eyes, the nose is the spot you want to go for,” he told ABC News.

He also praised the young girl's ability to set herself free. “To get an animal with the strongest bite on the planet to let go of you is a miracle,” he said.



The girl was treated by lifeguards and then taken to the hospital. She sustained non-life threatening puncture wounds, reported Orlando Sentinel.

The alligator was captured and removed from the park and later euthanised.

We just got this photo of the gator that bit the 10 yr old. The alligator was caught by a trapper. pic.twitter.com/NbeWsiGGmH

— Julie Salomone (@JSalomoneTV) May 7, 2017