Brodie Terry, 11, was on a family fishing trip in Florida when the giant eight and a half foot beast pounced on him, with his dad forced to jump on top of the alligator to save him
An 11-year-old boy had his right hand ripped off in a terrifying alligator attack during a family fishing trip. Brodie Terry suffered the catastrophic injury on June 27 while on an outing to Nelson’s Fish Camp, Florida, when the gator struck as he was returning a catch to the water.
The massive 8-and-a-half-foot beast pounced on him before a hero relative intervened to pull him to safety. One family member, Andrew Raines, said the boy’s father bravely put his own life at risk by battling the predator.
Andrew told News 6 Orlando: “Brodie’s father jumped into the water on top of it and tried to pry his mouth open.
“The gator rolled, and that’s what ultimately severed Brodie’s hand.” Brodie was rushed to hospital, where medics battled desperately to rescue his hand, but were eventually forced to amputate at the wrist after multiple procedures.
He was released on Friday and travelled home to Pennsylvania with his family, where he remains recovering from his trauma, reports the Mirror. Raines told News 6 that the loss is devastating for young Brodie, who loves angling and baseball, describing them as “the two loves of his life”.
“If he wasn’t playing baseball, he was fishing,” Raines said. Brodie’s family have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover his medical costs, describing the attack as a “life-altering event” that has completely devastated their world.
“This tragic accident has not only changed Brodie’s life but has also placed a tremendous burden on his family as they navigate the aftermath,” the page description reads.
The incident occurred on the same day that a beloved female construction worker from Orlando tragically died in another horrific alligator attack. Brittany Clark had been strolling through Little Big Econ State Forest with her boyfriend and a pal when they decided to take a swim in a river.
Emergency call recordings from the attack revealed how an alligator approached the group before lunging at Clark and severing both of her arms. A post-mortem report obtained by the Daily Mail revealed additional details, including how her boyfriend fought the beast even as it pulled them both underwater into a “death roll”.
Alligators carry out death rolls to subdue their victims, spinning ferociously onto their backs while attempting to pull their prey beneath the water to drown them.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced to the public that the alligators behind both attacks on Clark and Brodie have been destroyed.
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