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9-year-old fights off 400-pound alligator

A 9-year-old Florida boy fought off a nine-foot, 400-pound alligator and had only minor injuries.

By Danielle Haynes
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SAINT CLOUD, Fla., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A 9-year-old Florida boy amazingly only had minor injuries after fighting off a 400-pound alligator he encountered while swimming Thursday.

James Barney Jr. was swimming in a lake in Saint Cloud, Fla., when he said he felt something clamp down on his foot.

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"I just immediately hit it and I let it go a little so I pry its jaw open," James said. "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."

The nine-foot alligator left only minor cuts — and a tooth — on James' leg.

"I want to put it on a necklace so that I can tell all my friends," James said of the tooth.

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