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The wildlife director of Florida Gator Gardens in Venus, Florida, had to have his hand amputated after he was bitten by an alligator. Greg Graziani told CNN that he was conducting a routine training session with the alligator when a falling leaf spooked the wild animal, causing it to lunge toward him and bite his hand.
While the alligator responded to his command to release his arm, it was too late. Surgeons tried their best to save his mangled hand, but they eventually conceded they had no choice but to amputate it.
"The accident was an extreme injury that left Greg's hand connected by one tendon. A tendon and some muscle that the surgeon had to untwist 6 times during the initial surgery," Florida Gator Gardens explained in a Facebook post.
This is not the first time Graziani suffered a significant injury after an alligator encounter. In 2013, he was trying to trap an alligator and had it secured with a rope. The gator went into a roll, and his arm got caught in the rope, causing it to break in several places.
Despite having his hand amputated, Graziani plans to continue working with alligators.
The park said that the alligator was unharmed during the incident and would remain at the zoo.