74-Year-Old Florida Woman Squares Up to Alligator to Save Her Dog: ‘I Came Down on the Alligator With All My Weight’

A 74-year-old woman put her life on the line to save her pooch from an alligator.

Would you risk getting chomped on by an alligator to save your dog? Well, an elderly woman did, and she survived it with just a bite.

While on an evening stroll with her furry companion, Nalu, Suzan Marciano, and the golden retriever came face-to-face with an alligator. The two were walking near a lake at Burt Aaronson Park west of Boca Raton on Aug. 24, Local 10 reports.

Marciano says when she saw the alligator attack, she took Nalu off their leash, ran into the water and dropped on top of the six-foot-long gator.

“I wasn’t thinking,” she told the Palm Beach Post. “I did the only thing I could do. I came down on the alligator with all my weight.”

Both Nalu and Marciano survived but the alligator did sink its teeth into Marciano’s hand.

Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said they weren’t able to find the gator after the attack.

When the gator released Nalu, Suzan Marciano figured she had spooked it. Then the gator turned and sunk its teeth into her hand.

"Providence must have been with me." https://t.co/xwSwAjji60

— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) September 21, 2021