Florida Man Loses Arm In Alligator Attack, Gets Lost In Swamp For Days

A Florida man not only survived a vicious alligator attack, but he spent three days alone in a swamp, according to WTSP.

Eric Merda spoke about his harrowing experience, which began on July 17 in Myakka City. The survivor says he got lost in the woods at Lake Manatee Fish Camp and later spotted a lake. Instead of walking around, Merda decided to swim across.

He didn't know that he would soon fight for his life.

"I look over and there's a gator on my right-hand side so I went to swim and she got my forearm so I grabbed her like this, she was trying to roll but she snapped her head so my arm went backwards like this completely," he told reporters.

Merda says the ferocious beast dragged him underwater three times before performing a death roll and dealing severe damage. After that horrific fight, the Florida man scrambled out of the water and began wandering around with a mangled arm, screaming for help.

"Bones poking out, muscles, if I try to move my fingers, you could see it twitching," Merda said, adding that he couldn't describe the pain.

After walking around the woods for three days, following any signs of civilization, Merda remembers stumbling into a fence and encountering a man.

"I said a gator got my arm, he said, 'Holy smokes, man!'" Merda recalled. He was rushed to the hospital and later had most of his injured arm amputated. Now that he's adjusting to his new life, he has one warning to those wandering around Florida waters.

"Do not feed the gators and you guys know who you are, throwing rocks at them," the survivor told the news station. "I've seen it on the job sites, leave them gators alone."