BOCA RATON, Fla. – For dog owners, evening walks before the sun sets are a typical part of their everyday routine, especially for those living in Florida. However, for one Florida woman, this routine has completely changed after a traumatic incident — her dog was attacked by an alligator during their evening stroll, and so was she.
According to the Palm Beach Post, 74-year-old Suzan Marciano was walking her golden retriever mix, Nalu, near a lake at Burt Aaronson Park west of Boca Raton on Aug. 24 when their night turned for the worst.
According to the report, the woman took the dog off the leash and it ran into the water when a 6-foot-long gator attacked.
Marciano fought back.
“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.”
When the gator released Nalu, Suzan Marciano figured she had spooked it. Then the gator turned and sunk its teeth into her hand.
— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) September 21, 2021
"Providence must have been with me." https://t.co/xwSwAjji60
Thankfully, both she and Nalu survived the attack, and are slowly making full recoveries.
Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) say they were unable to locate the alligator after the incident. An incident report reveals that an FWC officer and a park ranger checked the area and could not determine where the alligator attack happened.