A woman in Zimbabwe is being hailed a hero for her quick thinking when a crocodile snatched her three-year-old son from the bank of a river.
Maurina Musisinyana set up her son Gideon and his sibling under an umbrella on a bank of Runde River while she went fishing close by. One minute, her kids were playing peacefully with each other and the next, she heard a loud scream and saw the umbrella floating in the river.
She ran to her children and saw Gideon being dragged by a crocodile. Without hesitation, Maurina jumped on the animal and plugged its nose with her fingers, which forced it to release the child from its mouth.
“If you suffocate a crocodile from its nose, it loses its strength and that is exactly what I did. I used my other arm to free my baby’s head from its jaws. Even to this day, I still do not believe I rescued my son,” she told the Mirror.
Maurina was bitten by the crocodile on her hand, while Gideon suffered from severe bleeding a facial injuries, which made it hard for him to breathe. He was treated at a nearby hospital and has since made a full recovery.
The mother of two learned that plugging the noses of crocodiles forces them to release the prey in their mouths from elders in her village. The animals breathe through their mouths but when fighting with prey in the water, the mouth valve stays shut and they breathe through their nostrils.
We’re happy to hear that Gideon is okay and he has his mom to thank!
This isn’t the first time someone has stuck their fingers up a crocodile’s nose to escape an attack. A 10-year-old girl was attacked in Florida and managed to released the animal’s grip by sticking her fingers in its nose. Watch that news report below.