In late August of 2021, Suzan Marciano, a 74-year-old resident of the Boca Raton area in Florida, heroically saved her Golden Retriever mix, Nalu, from the actual jaws of an alligator.
Taking strolls by the lake down at Burt Aaronson Park was a common pastime for Marciano and Nalu, as her pup loves the water.
Around 6:30 PM one evening, after Marciano had tossed a stick towards the water’s edge for Nalu to chase, she spotted a dark shadow in the clear and shallow water near her companion.
“My heart dropped,” Marciano told the Palm Beach Post.
All it took was a few seconds for her to register that the shadow was an alligator, approximately six feet in length, and then a mere second longer for the predator to snap Nalu up in its terrifying jaws.
The Dark Shadow In The Water
(Picture Credit: Zen Rial/Getty Images)Acting on what must have been pure adrenalin and instinct, Marciano, a 74-year-old woman, did the unthinkable; she launched herself on top of the six-foot alligator.
“I wasn’t thinking,” she explained. “I did the only thing I could do. I came down on the alligator with all my weight.”
With this woman clawing at its back, the alligator released Nalu from its jaws. However, before Marciano could claim victory, the alligator recalculated and bit down on her hand, instead.
“Providence must have been with me,” Marciano said, explaining that from there she was somehow able to scramble away with Nalu, back to the safety of the trail.
“It was all one big blur. I was in such shock. I didn’t feel any pain.”
The Shock & Trauma That Followed
Undoubtedly in shock, all Marciano wanted to do was rush home. But she instead called a friend, realizing that her hand was gushing blood from the center of her palm.
Her friend rightly advised her to make haste to the hospital.
“I almost didn’t go. All I could think was, ‘I want to get home.’ I was in such a terrible state that I wasn’t thinking straight,” Marciano said of her mindset at the time.
“When I called her, she told me, ‘You have to do something. You need a tetanus shot and you need the injury looked at. That snapped me back to reality.”
Both she and Nalu did, in fact, need emergency care. Marciano needed five stitches. Nalu had to undergo a two-hour surgery to drain and stitch the puncture wounds on her stomach and thigh.
While they both miraculously made it through, the trauma of the ordeal haunted them. Neither of them wanted to return to the park for weeks afterward, and Marciano said Nalu was much quieter for quite some time.
“I didn’t even want to see the park,” Marciano said.
“I hardly went anywhere for two weeks afterward. I was in such a traumatic state. Every couple of hours, I was breaking into tears for no apparent reason. I was still seeing the shadow with two eyes looking up from out of the water. That image kept coming back to me.”
See Something, Say Something
After the incident, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission dispatched a park ranger to inspect the lake area for alligator activity but found no trace of the creature.
If you live in this area and spot an alligator, then please call the commission’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at (866) 392-4286, and stay safe.
Marciano and Nalu’s story reminds us all to be careful with pets when it comes to wildlife. If you live in an area where alligators are common, keep your dogs away from bodies of water unless you’re absolutely sure they’re safe.
DogTime has a full guide on what to do if you encounter dangerous wildlife on a walk with your dog here!
How do you make sure your pets avoid dangerous encounters with wildlife? Would you have thrown yourself onto the back of an alligator for your dog? Then let us know in the comments below.
