10-year old brave girl escapes alligator attack in Orlando Florida. Read her incredible story.

A 10-year-old girl from Orlando Florida Juliana Ossa has survived an alligator attack by prising open the reptile's jaws.

The youngster was about 10ft from the shore in a lake designated safe for bathers when the reptile grabbed her by the knee.

She was able to force the animal's mouth open but suffered several puncture wounds to her knee and thigh.  "I was in the water and there was a mean nine-foot gator biting my leg," she told us. "The alligator grabbed my leg, I tried hitting it to release me but it didn't work.

Brave girl

The attack took place at Mary Jane Lake, about 15 miles (24km) from the centre of Orlando, Florida, at about 3pm on Saturday.

Chad Weber, a spokesman for FWC, told the Orlando Sentinel the alligator that bit the youngster was 8ft 9ins long.

"She had puncture wounds but I don't think they're life-threatening," he said. 


She said that what she learnt at nearby alligator park Gatorland helped her to wade of the attack from the dangerous animal "I used what they taught me at Gatorland, so I put my two fingers up its nostrils and it couldn't breath and had to breath from its mouth and then let my leg out," she said. "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."

The girl was treated by lifeguards and then taken to hospital, according to ABC News, but has since reportedly been released.

The alligator was caught by officials and removed from the lake.

Investigators are looking into the events that led up to the incident.

Several members of the girl's family were nearby at the time.

The park around the lake has been closed off to the public for a week while the investigation is carried out.

                 Juliana and her mom