Parts of this Country are Still Very Dangerous! - Not Just Washington D.C.!

Alligator breeding season is in April and May, but it's still the wrong time to swim in dangerous water, especially at night!

Alligator Eats Teen's Arm During Late-Night Swim

A Florida teen has lost his arm, but not his spirit, after an alligator attacked him Sunday during an early morning swim in a Florida canal.

Kasey Edwards, 18, of Okeechobee, Fla., lost his left arm after grappling with the 11-foot long alligator in a canal at 2 a.m. Sunday.

"I felt something lock down and had the sensation of needle nose pliers, just a gigantic set of them, clamping down," Edwards told FOX affiliate WFLX-TV.

Edwards admits he and his friends were drinking before he decided to jump in the 25-foot-deep canal in Nubbin Slough in Okeechobee County.

"I've heard different rumors of what was involved and there were no drugs involved, no dare, nobody pushed me in or something," Edwards told WFLX-TV.

When the alligator grabbed his arm, he remembered that gators spin their prey, so he told WFLX-TV that he grabbed a buoy line and didn't let go.

"I was just like holding on with everything I could for this gator was trying to pull me under," he told the station. "I'd surface, get a gasp of air and he'd just shake again and pull me under.

"He did it about five times," Edwards continued. The teen poked the alligator in the eye to get free.

"I still at this time didn't realize that my arm was gone," he told WFLX-TV. "I just — my adrenalin was pumping, and I swam to the other side of the bank."

The Florida State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission captured the alligator after the attack, WFLX-TV reported. Edwards was taken to a Melbourne hospital for treatment and he should be released by the end of the week.

Edwards told FOXNews.com that he wants the state to do more to control the alligator population, citing the safety of young children, but he declined to discuss his own encounter further.

"It seems like there's a crossroads," Edwards told WFLX-TV. "Either you have a positive attitude, you know, just make the best of a bad situation, or just sit there and feel sorry for yourself."

Click here for more from WFLX-TV.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Observer