Man Survives Vicious Alligator Attack By Grabbing “Teeth Tongue And Snout”

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A 34 year old man was left badly injured after being attacked by a 12 foot long alligator near Florida.

JC La Ferda is lucky to be alive to tell the tail, having revealed that he managed to fend off the animal by grabbing it by his teeth, tongue and snout.

He also revealed that the creature had his head in his mouth at one stage, before managing to fend him off and escape.

“hitting a brick wall”

JC La Verda a firefighter, was swimming in Lake Thonotosassa, near Tamp Florida when the incident occured.

He said that he was unaware of the alligator, who was swimming in the lake’s other direction. He also described the animal’s impact as “hitting a brick wall”.

“I was unable to see it (the alligator). I hit it directly with my head. It chopped me on my head, my scapula (shoulder blade), and my upper torso”, he said.

“I felt the scales, I felt the teeth. I knew immediately what I was in. There was no doubt where I was”. 

“grabbed its snout”

The firefighter continued, “It crunched down, puncturing my skull, and destroying my jaw, dislocating it on two sides, and in the middle it broke it in two”. 

“I knew I was going to get out of the situation and I knew I had to act,” he added.

“We rolled to the right. I actually thought that it had rolled me but if it had rolled me I think I would have felt my entire body jerk and I didn’t”.

“So I was in its mouth. I was grabbing it with both hands, I was grabbing its teeth, and with my right hand I was also grabbing some of its tongue. I know I felt gums which were squashy and hard”. 

“By doing that I miraculously was able to turn it”. 

“didn’t become submissive”

Mr La Verda explained why he felt the animal let him go.

“I didn’t become submissive, and I grabbed its snout and I was also playing with its inside of its mouth”, he said.

“I was confused – but it was probably even more confused about what was going on, and probably about how quickly I did it”. 

“We rolled and then it let go and then I kept swimming”, before finding safety from a nearby dock.

Footage of this horrific ordeal was filmed by La Verda’s colleague in a promotional video. He has revealed that he watched the footage 40 times.

He was taken to hospital, where he spent 10 days, following facial and jaw reconstruction surgery. Doctors also removed part of his right temporal lobe, pierced by a fractured bone from his cracked skull.

With several surgeries to come, Mr La Verde must wear a helmet to protect the right side of his head.

His wife Christine has stated that her husband is “progresssing well”, having described the incident as “overwhelming”.