Juliana Ossa received 10 stitches after she pried her own leg out of an alligator’s jaw on Saturday. The 10-year-old was sitting in the water at Moss Park in Orlando, Florida, during the attack.
A 10-year-old girl received 10 stitches after she pried her own leg out of an alligator’s jaw on Saturday.
Juliana Ossa was bitten in the knee and calf while she was sitting in the shallow waters at the Moss Park near the Lake Hart area, according to the Orlando Sentinel .
Bystanders pulled her to safety and Ossa was treated in the hospital before the alligator measuring eight feet and nine inches was captured and euthanized.
The girl, who was with her family, was sitting in two feet of water when the alligator clamped down on her left leg.
She screamed out and managed to free her own limb when Emilio Aquino rushed into the water to help.
He told Fox: ‘I realized that she was screaming that she got bit by an alligator.
‘At this point I couldn’ t see anything but a couple of seconds later, I saw the alligator so I ran towards the water.’
The young girl was bleeding from the gash when she was pulled from the water, and later received ten stitches at the Nemours Children’s Hospital.
Wildlife officials trapped and euthanized the alligator, while the waterfront area has been closed to the public for the remainder of the week.
Photographs of her leg, bandaged from ankle to thigh, show blood seeping through in two places.
Suedmeyer added that he will meet with the FWC before ‘making any decisions on opening the waterfront’ area.
The park is located near Lake Hart and Lake Mary Jane.
Following the tragic death of two-year-old Lane Graves, who was killed by an alligator at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at Walt Disney World last year, Orange County officials added or replaced alligator and snake warning signs near swimming areas.
According to the Sentinel, the warnings were posted at some of the most popular recreational areas such as Moss Park.
