Girl Survives Alligator Attack In Florida
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: If you are tired about all these stories about shark bites, well let's go into the lakes of Florida, shall we. Or, do we dare? Edna Wilks went into a lake in central Florida and had an alligator encounter. We get the story now from Central Florida News 13.</s>EDNA WILKS: She's my best friend. I've -- she was my best friend before this, but still it's like I owe her my life.</s>KELLY TEAGUE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Edna Wilkes can't say enough about her friend, Amanda.</s>WILKS: She came back and she gave me her raft, her boogie board.</s>TEAGUE: The teens were both swimming with a group of friends in Little Lake Conway, Saturday night, when a gator grabbed Edna's arm and pulled her underwater.</s>AMANDA VALLANCE: I just heard screaming, and every time I'd hear a scream I would just get this shock through my body. And I never want to feel that feeling again.</s>TEAGUE: Instead of climbing out of the water, Amanda helped pull her friend to the shore.</s>VALLANCE: I knew I was risking my life, but I didn't really care.</s>TEAGUE: Edna says, for the past five years she's never even thought twice about swimming in the lake.</s>WILKS: We've never seen one the whole time we've lived there, and it just came out of nowhere.</s>TEAGUE (on camera): In all, three alligators were pulled from Little Lake Conway less than 24 hours after the attack. The smallest, just two feet, the largest was over 11 feet long. (voice-over): As for Edna, she has a broken arm and a deep cut on the hand she used to pry open the gator's mouth. Still, Edna knows the attack could have been much worse if it wasn't from her friend Amanda.</s>LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: Way to go, Amanda.</s>ALLEN: Let's hear if for Amanda. As you know, alligator attacks are extremely rare as are shark attacks, but it's been a summer, hasn't it.