74-Year-Old Woman Wrestles Huge Alligator To Save Pet Dog From Its Jaws

A 74-year-old Florida woman rescued her pet dog from the jaws of a huge alligator by wrestling with it till it dropped the canine.

The incident occurred on Aug. 24, but was reported by local media Tuesday. The woman had stepped out for an evening walk with her canine near a lake at Burt Aaronson Park west of Boca Raton when the attack took place.

During the walk, the woman, identified as Suzan Marciano, had taken the dog off the leash, following which it ran into the water and was attacked by the reptile. The alligator that measured 6 feet was in the lake's clear and shallow waters, the Palm Beach Post reported. When she saw the dog caught in the massive jaws of the alligator, her "heart dropped."

"I wasn't thinking," Marciano reportedly said. "I did the only thing I could do. I came down on the alligator with all my weight."

After the alligator released the dog, which was identified as a golden retriever mix named Nalu, it turned and sunk its teeth into Marciano's hand.

"Providence must have been with me," she said. "It was all one big blur. I was in such shock. I didn't feel any pain."

Marciano and Nalu immediately ran out of the water and onto a trail around the lake. She later felt a horrific pain as blood poured from the puncture wound in the middle of her palm, following which a friend asked her to go to the hospital.

“I almost didn't go,” Marciano said. “All I could think was, ‘I want to get home.’ I was in such a terrible state that I wasn't thinking straight. When I called her, she told me, ‘You have to do something. You need a tetanus shot and you need the injury looked at. That snapped me back to reality.”

Thankfully, both she and Nalu survived the attack, Local 10 reported. Marciano received five stitches after her hand was soaked in a tub of iodine at the hospital. The dog is also said to be in a stable condition.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said they were unable to locate the alligator responsible for the attack.