{"id":1067,"date":"2013-04-22T15:53:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T11:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ankakh.am\/?p=1067"},"modified":"2013-04-22T15:53:16","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T11:53:16","slug":"heroic-father-punches-out-alligator-to-save-his-son-from-the-reptiles-jaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive2.ankakh.com\/en\/?p=1067","title":{"rendered":"Heroic father punches out alligator to save his son from the reptile’s jaws"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"a1\"<\/a>A terrified Florida father got into a fistfight with an eight-foot alligator Friday to save his son’s life.<\/p>\n

Joseph Welch and son Joey, 6, were on a canoe trip through the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Beach when the boy fell into the water and the waiting alligator’s jaws.<\/p>\n

‘I heard these blood-curdling screams and I saw this gator that had his right arm in his jaw and I just freaked,’ Joseph said.<\/p>\n

\"a2\"<\/a>Joseph told Local 10<\/a> that he immediately jumped into the water to save his son.<\/p>\n

The alligator wasn’t wasting time either.<\/p>\n

‘He just swam up to me and clamped my arm,’ Joey said. ‘He didn’t wait for a second.’<\/p>\n

Joseph feared a struggle could tear the boy apart.<\/p>\n

‘I didn’t want to play tug-of-war with the alligator and get his arm ripped off,’ Joseph told WSVN 7<\/a>. ‘So I started punching the alligator on top of the head as hard as I could.’<\/p>\n

Luckily an unidentified good Samaritan joined the man-versus-beast brawl and booted the alligator in the stomach.<\/p>\n

Joey escaped with minor injuries and the gator was later tracked and killed by authorities because of its aggression.<\/p>\n

Once on the attack, alligators are relentless.<\/p>\n

Kaleb Langdale, 17, had his arm bitten off by a ten-foot long alligator last summer.<\/p>\n

‘(I) knew I either got to lose this arm or I’m gonna die,’ he told reporters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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