A Florida man lost his arm in a grizzly alligator attack, only to spend the next three days wandering the swamp looking for help.
Eric Merda, 43, of Sarasota, was visiting the Lake Manatee Fish Camp in Myakka City on July 17 when he got lost in the woods. When he arrived back at the lake, he opted to swim across it as opposed to walking around.
“Not the smartest decision a Florida boy could make,” Merda admitted during an interview with 10 Tampa Bay that aired Monday.
Not long into his swim, he told reporters, “I look over and there’s a gator on my right-hand side.”
“She got my forearm so I grabbed her like this, she was trying to roll by she snapped her head so my arm with backwards like this completely.”