An 83-year-old Indonesian woman faced a "fight for survival" when a 6-foot
Komodo dragon attacked her near her home on Rinca Island on Tuesday.
The woman, identified only as Haisah, was reportedly sitting outside her house on the Indonesian island making a broom from a coconut tree when the lizard sprang at her.
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"I have no idea which direction it came from," the woman told Agence France-Presse, using her son as an interpreter. "A knife fell from my right hand as the Komodo sunk its teeth into my wrist. There was nobody else around and I knew that I faced a fight for survival.
"I kicked the Komodo on one its front legs with all my strength, it was only one kick but it made the Komodo let go of my hand, then I screamed for help."
It took 35 stitches to close up the serious wound on Haisah's hand, and she's still experiencing limited mobility; she claims the bite left the area temporarily paralyzed.
A Komodo dragon's jaw has highly sophisticated poisonous glands that can paralyze its victims to keep them from getting away, according to AFP.
"I'm doing fine now," Haisah told AFP. "I hope my hand will return to normal so that I can make brooms again."
This isn’t the first time a Komodo dragon has attacked a human. In February, one of the reptiles bit a tour guide's leg on Rinca Island.
Earlier the same month, one attacked two employees of Komodo National Park, causing serious injuries.
Komodo dragons are native to the Indonesian islands and can grow to be 10 feet long, weighing more than 150 pounds. The largest living lizards in the world, Komodos often feed on deer and carrion.
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