While standing in the shallow water about 30 feet from shore, a 10-year-old girl never thought she could be in any danger while cooling off at Moss Park near Orlando.

That's when an 8 foot 9 inch alligator clamped down on her knee sinking its teeth into her flesh.

With just moments to act, what this little girl did was truly amazing and potentially saved her life.

Julianna Ossa used strategies she learned at Gatorland to free herself from the giant animal.

"I stuck my two fingers up its nose so it couldn't breathe "” it had to be from its mouth "” and he opened it, so it let my leg out," she said.

She will pulled safety by two strangers and two lifeguards bandaged Juliana's leg until she was able to get to the hospital.

Juliana needed more than a dozen stitches for multiple puncture wounds, but is otherwise doing okay.

Authorities captured and killed the alligator after the attack, which is common practice in this situation. According to Wildlife commission, there have been 388 alligator bites on people in Florida since 1948, including 24 fatalities.

The beach will remain closed to the public until further notice.