'I Freaking Fought an Alligator—and Won'

A routine walk turned wild for one Florida woman when she found herself wrestling an alligator to save her puppy from its jaws. Danie Wright, a resident of Land O'Lakes north of Tampa, stepped out Wednesday with her 4-month-old Shih Tzu, Dax, and was near a creek behind her home when a 5-foot gator shot out of the water and latched onto Dax's collar, per the New York Times. Wright, a professional pet-sitter and former college rugby player, says she instinctively gripped the leash and found herself being pulled into the shallow water. She managed to yank Dax from the gator's jaws and toss the dog to safety on shore. In the process, the alligator clamped onto her left arm.

Wright responded by fighting back—punching, kicking, and even flipping the gator. She eventually broke free and scrambled back to shore with Dax, who escaped unscathed. The ordeal left Wright with several bites, but she didn't need stitches. "I was so lucky it was a small alligator," she tells the Times. Paramedics treated her at the scene, giving her a tetanus shot and antibiotics. Wildlife trappers soon captured and removed the alligator, which is expected to be euthanized. "I freaking fought an alligator—and won," a stunned Wright says in a footage of the capture, per KHOU.

Alligator attacks in Florida remain uncommon, with the state averaging just eight unprovoked bites requiring medical care per year. Still, Wright stresses the need for vigilance in gator country. "I never saw the alligator coming," she tells the Times. "If you live in Florida or anywhere there are gators, you have to keep your eye out 24/7." But if the Massachusetts native finds herself in a similar situation again, she expects to act just the same. Though she acknowledges she could've lost her arm, "I wasn't going to listen to my dog get eaten," she tells NBC Boston. "I'd end up in a psych ward if I went through that."