9-Year-Old Boy Fights Alligator To A Draw, Sustains Only Minor Injuries

If a boy fights an alligator — a 400-pound alligator — you don’t expect things to end so well, but for James Barney, Jr., he came out of the altercation virtually unscathed.

According to an interview with the Orlando Sentinel — see video below — the Florida 9-year-old was playing near Lake Tohopekaliga, a popular tourist spot, when he was approached by the giant reptile.

“It really amazed me what happened,” Barney said. “At first I thought someone was just playing with me and I didn’t know what happened.”

Thanks to luck and some quick thinking, the youngster was able to get out of this play session with only “superficial” wounds, according to Sandra Ramirez, a Public Information Officer for the City of Saint Cloud.

“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,” Barney added. “And then finally I had enough strength left to pry its jaw open a little.”

In all, this boy fights alligator mismatch turned out better than expected with just 30 marks sustained from the nine-foot creature’s claws and teeth.

James Barney, Jr., was taken to Florida’s Arnold Palmer hospital, where he was “cleaned up, stapled, and stitched,” the boy’s father said.

One of the animal’s teeth was “lodged in his skin,” a souvenir that Barney hoped he could keep. Unfortunately for the little guy, animal control took it in the hopes of identifying the aggressive reptile.

Asked if he would be returning to the lake where the attack occurred, Barney gave a simple “Negative.”

A doctor said that the alligator bit him several times on the “legs, backside, and abdomen,” resulting in the scratches.

Here’s that video:

After watching that, how amazingly surprising are kids?

What we really liked about the video above was how this little guy had just fought off a monster, and moments later, he’s laying in his hospital bed clutching a teddy bear.

Also, we were really impressed by Barney’s dad and the bond that this young father and son shared, holding hands as they talked about the incident.

While you hope a situation never arises where a boy fights an alligator, this situation reminds us that there are still some great kids and parents left in the world.

How do you think you would have handled this situation in Barney’s shoes?