TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. (WSVN) — A Central Florida woman is on the road to recovery after surviving an alligator attack on the Fourth of July.
Rachél Thompson said she went for a morning run and decided to take a dip in the river when danger struck.
“I’m basically standing in shallow water and I look from the dark water, out of nowhere appear the ripples of a giant alligator head,” Thompson recounted.
The gator lunged and bit down on Thompson’s leg. She started fighting for her life, punching the animal in the snout and trying to free herself.
“The thought came to my mind ‘This is your last move and the next, his next is to roll you,’ and I just screamed and I pried as hard as I could.”
Her efforts worked as she freed herself and pulled herself up back onto her dock.
Thompson was rushed to the hospital where she needed emergency surgery. Luckily, her injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been.
“None of the major nerves were severed. One clean fracture to the fibula the small bone,” she said.
Even though Thompson came away with cuts and a fractured fibula, she knows others have suffered worse fates.
“I’ve heard a lot of these stories and I’ve heard a lot of tragic stories, lost lives or lost limbs,” she said.
While wildlife officials say attacks by alligators are rare in Florida, they remind people to always be aware of their surroundings and not go into bodies of water where alligators are known to lurk.
After everything Thompson has been through, she’s just happy to walk away with only scars.
“I have a lot of scars and it’s amazing the more that you get in life, the more you realize people don’t pick up on them, they don’t notice them. I think this one might be different. I think this one might be a bit more noticeable,” she said.
A licensed trapper subsequently put the alligator down following the incident and was euthanized.
It weighed more than 400 pounds and measured over 10 feet.
Thompson is expected to make a full recovery but must stay off her feet for six to eight weeks.
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