How to Fight Off an Alligator With Your Bare Hands

As told by a 10-year-old girl who just did that

May 9, 2017 9:00 am

We’re not sure if grace under pressure is actually something that can be taught, but even if it is, that’s one class that Florida girl Juliana Ossa doesn’t have to attend.

While swimming in two feet of water at Orlando’s Moss Park over the weekend, the 10-year-old girl exerted Zen-like calm when she was attacked by a nine-foot alligator. Instead of panicking after the gator latched onto her leg and wouldn’t let go, Ossa thought back to a lesson she’d learned during a visit at nearby Gatorland.

“I put my two fingers up its nostrils and it couldn’t breathe and had to breathe from its mouth and then let my leg out,” she told Inside Edition. “The gator didn’t do anything because he was too busy biting my leg and too busy with his claws in the sand. He didn’t have any attack moves to take out my fingers.” `

Thanks to her cool head and fast fingers, Ossa escaped with injuries to the front of her knee and the back of her lower thigh that were treated by paramedics and then stitched up at a hospital. After hearing about the attack on Ossal, Gatorland wished her well and shared some more tips.

Use ‘em or lose ‘em … your appendages, that is.

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