TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- A 14-foot python bit its handler and tried to drag her into its cage during a show at an aquarium, and wouldn't release the woman until a police officer zapped the reptile with a stun gun.

Alison Cobianchi, 18, was taking Chloe, a Burmese python, out of her cage for the daily snake presentation Saturday at the Tarpon Springs Aquarium.

The snake wrapped itself around her arm and waist, and witnesses said the snake was trying to drag Cobianchi into its cage. Visitors and aquarium employees kept the non-venomous snake from pulling Cobianchi into the cage, but couldn't make it release its grip.

"It was definitely the most scary and painful thing that has ever happened to me," she said. "I knew I wasn't going to die, but I was worried I wouldn't get my hand back."

Police were called to help.

"We either had to Taser it or we would have had to kill it," police Sgt. Allen MacKenzie said.

The snake was not seriously hurt by the stun gun.

Aquarium owner Scott Conger said Chloe bit him once while he was feeding her, but Cobianchi is the first employee seriously injured. He said the snake show was canceled indefinitely.

Cobianchi suffered puncture wounds on her wrist and hand. She said the snake's teeth went through the skin and into the tendons of her hand.

She said she was really scared during the incident. When asked if she will handle the snake again, Cobianchi said, "No, I am pretty much done with snakes. But I will still be near her and pet her if someone else is holding her, but I am not going to hold her again."

So, instead of handling snakes, Cobianchi said she will stay with the aquarium, but now she'll work with sharks instead.