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A 9-year-old boy sustained a laceration and puncture wounds to his left leg in an alligator attack Sunday evening while swimming with family in Lake Pontchartrain, according to the New Orleans Fire Department.

Capt. Stefan Schmidt of Engine 13, who rendered aid along with personnel from New Orleans Emergency Medical Services, credited the boy's father for saving his life.

"I really feel he would have pulled him under, drowned the kid and killed him," Schmidt said of an alligator he estimated at 6 feet in length. "The dad jumped on the gator and was literally beating it, and it let go of his son."

The family was swimming at dusk near the mouth of Bayou St. John where it meets Lake Pontchartrain — a popular spot to cool off due to the nearby sandbar, according to the New Orleans Fire Department. Swimmers spotted the gator swimming toward the boy and yelled to warn him.

But the child thought people were joking. His injury was "pretty bad," said Schmidt, who along with EMS workers helped wrap the boy's leg before transporting him to a hospital.

"This kid was so brave. He wasn't crying," Schmidt said.

Even as first responders rendered aid, the gator floated nearby, watching from a distance, "like Captain Hook and the crocodile," he said.

The victim is now recovering at home, according to Stacy Gilmore, spokesperson for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority - East.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries was called to the waters near the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Cloverleaf Road to capture the alligator. Its fate was unclear late Tuesday.

Levee District police have ordered "No Swimming" signs in English and Spanish with a graphic of an alligator to be posted in the area, Gilmore said.

Alligator attacks in Louisiana are relatively rare, according to Loyola University professor Robert Thomas, founding director of the Louisiana Nature Center. Thomas, who holds a doctorate in vertebrate zoology, said alligator attacks happen more frequently in areas like Florida where people have encroached into their habitats, sometimes feeding the wild animals.

"I don't consider alligators to be a large hazard, but I consider them something to be very wary about," Thomas said. "They are powerful predators. I treat them all with respect and a little bit of reverence because they're really neat animals."

Schmidt said this was the first gator attack he's seen in 26 years with the fire department.

Aaron Mischler, President of the New Orleans Fire Fighters Association, expressed pride in the engine crew that responded. Mischler said he was "glad for the opportunity to remind everyone that New Orleans firefighters respond to every conceivable type of emergency situation ... And some we probably still haven't thought of yet."