<p> A brave nine-year-old boy in the US fought off a nine-foot-long alligator by grabbing its jaws to free himself after the animal sank its teeth into him.<br /><br /></p>.<p>James Barney had gone for a swim in East Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida, when he felt a strong tug, then a sharp pain on his backside. He quickly realised that he was being bitten by a large alligator.<br /><br />"I felt its jaw. I felt its teeth," Barney was quoted by the Orlando Sentinel as saying on Friday, recounting the previous day's harrowing encounter with the gator that was about 500 pounds.<br /><br />Barney told the astonishing tale to the media from his bed at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children of Orlando.<br /><br />The boy said after he realised it was an alligator, he started hitting the gator as hard as he could.<br /><br />"I was scared. I didn't know what to do...I had enough strength to pry open its jaws," James recalled.<br /><br />He then slipped out of its grip and frantically swam to shore.<br /><br />"I yelled, 'Help, help,'" James said. "Some people came over and pulled me in."<br />Barney's friend, who was on the pier when the alligator attacked quickly called 911.<br />"My friend got bit by an alligator at the lakefront," the caller exclaimed to a dispatcher as Barney was being pulled ashore crying and bleeding.<br /><br />Barney suffered three superficial bites, mostly on his buttocks, and about 30 teeth marks and claw scratches on his back, stomach and legs. He was airlifted to Arnold Palmer.<br />Doctors also found a gator's tooth embedded in one of the boy's wounds.<br /><br />Barney told the medical staff that he wanted to keep it as a souvenir to show off.<br />"It was a pretty big tooth," Barney said. "I want to put it on a necklace so then I can tell all my friends."<br /><br />But the tooth was handed off to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help them identify the gator once it is trapped.</p>
<p> A brave nine-year-old boy in the US fought off a nine-foot-long alligator by grabbing its jaws to free himself after the animal sank its teeth into him.<br /><br /></p>.<p>James Barney had gone for a swim in East Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida, when he felt a strong tug, then a sharp pain on his backside. He quickly realised that he was being bitten by a large alligator.<br /><br />"I felt its jaw. I felt its teeth," Barney was quoted by the Orlando Sentinel as saying on Friday, recounting the previous day's harrowing encounter with the gator that was about 500 pounds.<br /><br />Barney told the astonishing tale to the media from his bed at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children of Orlando.<br /><br />The boy said after he realised it was an alligator, he started hitting the gator as hard as he could.<br /><br />"I was scared. I didn't know what to do...I had enough strength to pry open its jaws," James recalled.<br /><br />He then slipped out of its grip and frantically swam to shore.<br /><br />"I yelled, 'Help, help,'" James said. "Some people came over and pulled me in."<br />Barney's friend, who was on the pier when the alligator attacked quickly called 911.<br />"My friend got bit by an alligator at the lakefront," the caller exclaimed to a dispatcher as Barney was being pulled ashore crying and bleeding.<br /><br />Barney suffered three superficial bites, mostly on his buttocks, and about 30 teeth marks and claw scratches on his back, stomach and legs. He was airlifted to Arnold Palmer.<br />Doctors also found a gator's tooth embedded in one of the boy's wounds.<br /><br />Barney told the medical staff that he wanted to keep it as a souvenir to show off.<br />"It was a pretty big tooth," Barney said. "I want to put it on a necklace so then I can tell all my friends."<br /><br />But the tooth was handed off to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to help them identify the gator once it is trapped.</p>