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Crocodile vet speaks about having arm bitten off

IT was an image that made stomachs turn – an evil-looking crocodile with a human arm clamped between its jaws.

The arm belonged to 38-year-old Taiwanese vet Chang Po-Yu, who had been treating Chu-Chu for a loss of appetite when the reptile attacked.


Shot at 2007-07-18

Surgeons were able to reattach his arm after a six-hour operation.

Still in hospital and heavily bandaged, Mr Chang said this week: "He hadn't eaten for six months.

"I just wish he hadn't decided to end his fast by trying to eat me."

Mr Chang, director of Shou Shan Zoo in Kaohsinung, sedated the crocodile before reaching through the bars of the cage to explore the animal's mouth and try to find the reason behind his appetite loss.

Unfortunately the croc woke up while Mr Chang's arm was still inside him and it was then that Chu-Chu bit it off at the elbow.

"I'd given it a shot and thought I had sedated it," Mr Chang said.

"I should probably have given it another dose but it looked to be fast asleep.

"And then it all happened in a flash. I was in shock. I had no time to think at all.

"The sense of complete horror was much stronger than the pain.

"I lay there in a daze watching my limb in the crocodile's mouth."

Keepers had to shoot the 5.5m monster twice to keep him from eating the limb whole.

Mr Chang, meanwhile, lay bleeding nearby. When the medics tried to tend to him he shooed them away.

"They wanted to see if I was okay but I just shouted at them to get my arm back," Mr Chang said.

"I was terrified the crocodile would start eating it.

"I knew it must have been hungry, it hadn't eaten in months."

As Mr Chang was taken to hospital, zoo staff struggled for 40 minutes to get his arm back.

They initially shot two tranquilliser darts into the croc's neck, but that had no effect. In the end, a policeman shot it twice in the head.

"The bullets just bounced off but the shock of the bangs must have done the trick," Mr Chang said.

The crocodile dropped the arm and the policeman was able to fish it out and run for it.

Chu-Chu survived the shooting and is now the star of the zoo and attracts thousands of visitors every day.

Doctors have told Mr Chang he should be able to go back to the zoo to work in six months.

"The surgeon says I won't be able to play the piano again but I should be able to do most things."

Quelle: news.com.au

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