Vet has arm bitten off by croc

A zoo worker in Kaohsiung, Taiwan has had surgery to reattach his arm after a crocodile bit it off.Chang Po-Yu, a veterinarian in the city's Shaoshan Zoo, was trying to give the reptile medicine at the time of the accident but failed to realise that the crocodile hadn't been completely anaesthetised.One shocked witness said: "The crocodile was in a fast move, it bit off the arm and swung twice."As Chang was rushed to Kaohsiung hospital, a zoo worker shot two bullets at the neck of the raging crocodile so that the severed limb could be retrieved from its mouth."A thought crossed my mind before I shot, 'if I can not kill the crocodile, at least I want to scare it to spit out the arm,'" said zoo guard, Chang Fu-Yi.Dr Lin Xin-Ling from Kaohsiung hospital said: "His left arm was entirely bitten off by the crocodile with only 5cm left." It took seven hours of surgery to reattach the arm.The 17-year-old reptile is one of a pair of Nile crocodiles kept by the zoo.Known as a man-eater because of its voracious nature, the crocodile is listed as an endangered species and is rapidly disappearing from its native African habitat.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | April 12, 2007

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