‘I felt my back, and there was a hole in it’: Florida teen fights off alligator

ZOLFO SPRINGS, Fla. — A 13-year-old girl in Florida is recovering after she was attacked by an alligator while swimming with friends at a boat ramp.

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Florida Fish and Wildlife officers told WWSB that they were called to an alligator bite at the Gardner Boat Ramp in Zolfo Springs on Sunday afternoon and found the 13-year-old girl who had been attacked.

Briann Morr told WBBH that she was swimming with her friends when the gator came after her.

“I turn around because I heard something go through the water, and the gator tried to grab my foot, and I kicked my foot under the water,” Morr told WBBH.

Despite her attempts to swim away, Morr said the alligator repeatedly came after her.

“I saw its mouth open, ‘cause I turned my head, and I saw its mouth open and close on my arm, and that’s when I smacked it,” Morr told WBBH. “I felt my back, and there was a hole in it.”

Morr’s doctors said they believe she suffered no permanent damage from the attack, WBBH reported.

Gardner Boat Ramp is a popular area for water activities and is known to be home to large alligators, the Miami Herald reported.

“I feel lucky to have my daughter,” Krystal Morr, Briann’s mother, told WBBH. “Right now, we’d probably be planning a funeral if she didn’t think so fast.”

A trapper was called to capture the alligator and either kill it or relocate it to a less-populated area, the Miami Herald reported.

Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission say people should only swim during the day and in designated areas to avoid alligators.

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