![Alligator swims in water. This image does not depict the alligator in the story. [Mark Kostich/Shutterstock]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/alligator-scaled-e1630413716314.jpg "Alligator swims in water. This image does not depict the alligator in the story. [Mark Kostich/Shutterstock]")
A 74-year-old Florida woman rescued her dog after an alligator’s attack by coming down on the predator with all her weight, a Tuesday report showed.
The attack took place Aug. 24, when Suzan Marciano was walking her dog, Nalu, alongside a lake at a park in Boca Raton, Florida. After Marciano unleashed Nalu, the dog ran into the water where it was grabbed by the alligator, according to The Palm Beach Post.
“My heart dropped,” Marciano said, recalling how she realized that a dark figure swimming towards Nalu was a deadly predator.
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
“I wasn’t thinking,” the woman said. “I did the only thing I could do. I came down on the alligator with all my weight.” (RELATED: Gigantic Alligator Walks Around A Neighborhood In Crazy Video)
The spooked gator released Nalu only to bite Marciano. The woman sustained a puncture wound in her palm as a result and had to get five stitches.
“I almost didn’t go [to the hospital]. All I could think was, ‘I want to get home.’ I was in such a terrible state that I wasn’t thinking straight,” the woman said of her thoughts following the incident, The Palm Beach Post reported.
Nalu had to undergo a two-hour-long surgery after suffering puncture wounds in its thigh and stomach. Although more tired than usual, the dog now feels well, the report said.
“I had this feeling that she was going to survive,” Marciano said of Nalu. “If she survived that, she can survive the surgery.”
Neither a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officer, nor a park ranger assigned to investigate the case could determine the exact location of the incident. Additionally, none of them observed a single alligator in the lake since the attack, an incident report said, according to The Palm Beach Post.