WASHINGTON — The 10-year-old Florida girl who fought off an alligator that clamped on her leg shows how she did it with just two fingers.
In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, Juliana Ossa demonstrated on a toy alligator where she placed her two fingers that caused the alligator to open its mouth, freeing her left leg.
She said that she started punching its forehead but it would not let go of her leg. But she remembered something she learned from alligator wranglers: “I stick my fingers up its two nostrils and it had to open its mouth and let my leg out,” she told “Today.”
Juliana was swimming Saturday in Orlando’s Lake Mary Jane in a designated swim area. She was in about 18 inches of water and 10 feet from the shore when an 8-foot-9-inch-long alligator bit her.
She was rushed to the hospital with 14 puncture wounds to her leg and had to get stitches. The alligator was caught and euthanized.
Watch the interview with Juliana below:
