Florida boy fights off alligator
A nine-year-old boy in Florida has told how he fought off an
alligator that bit into him as he swam at a popular lakefront park.
At a news conference at Arnold Palmer hospital, James Barney told reporters he didn’t realise what was happening at first.
“It really amazed me what happened. At first I thought someone was just playing with me and I didn’t know what happened. I reached down to go grab it and I felt its jaw I felt its teeth and I didn’t know what to do, so I immediately reacted and hit a couple of times, and then finally I had enough strength left to pry its jaw open a little,” he said.
The incident happened at Lake Toho in St Cloud, Florida, near the popular tourist destination of Orlando.
The surgeon who treated the boy said the alligator left about 30 marks from both claws and teeth, and a tooth had been left embedded in the boy’s skin. James wanted to keep it but said officials wouldn’t let him.
“The tooth is pretty big. I wanted to keep it but animal control came in and took it so they could find the alligator that attacked me,” he said.
He said officials estimated the alligator was about nine feet long (2.75 metres) and weighed about 500lb (226kg). Officials closed the beach and brought in trappers to try to catch it.
When asked whether he planned to go for a dip in Lake Toho again, James answered: “Negative.”
At a news conference at Arnold Palmer hospital, James Barney told reporters he didn’t realise what was happening at first.
“It really amazed me what happened. At first I thought someone was just playing with me and I didn’t know what happened. I reached down to go grab it and I felt its jaw I felt its teeth and I didn’t know what to do, so I immediately reacted and hit a couple of times, and then finally I had enough strength left to pry its jaw open a little,” he said.
The incident happened at Lake Toho in St Cloud, Florida, near the popular tourist destination of Orlando.
The surgeon who treated the boy said the alligator left about 30 marks from both claws and teeth, and a tooth had been left embedded in the boy’s skin. James wanted to keep it but said officials wouldn’t let him.
“The tooth is pretty big. I wanted to keep it but animal control came in and took it so they could find the alligator that attacked me,” he said.
He said officials estimated the alligator was about nine feet long (2.75 metres) and weighed about 500lb (226kg). Officials closed the beach and brought in trappers to try to catch it.
When asked whether he planned to go for a dip in Lake Toho again, James answered: “Negative.”
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