Quick Take
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
A 29-year-old tourist climbed into a crocodile enclosure in a zoo.
He mistook the crocodile for a statue while taking selfies with friends.
A female crocodile named Lalay attacked, biting the man’s arm and thigh.
A disturbing incident unfolded at a zoo in Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines, when a 29-year-old tourist recklessly climbed into a crocodile enclosure to take selfies, mistaking the predator for a statue, People reported. Footage captured by a bystander shows the man scaling a chain-link fence and entering the water, smiling and posing for photos. However, the situation quickly turned deadly.
A fully-grown female crocodile, named Lalay, charged towards the man, sinking her fangs deep into his arm. Horrified onlookers screamed as the crocodile clamped her jaws around his arm, and then grabbed his thigh, attempting a deadly death roll to tear him apart.
The gruesome attack lasted for 30 minutes, with the tourist trapped in the enclosure. Lalay’s handler eventually intervened, using a piece of cement to bash the crocodile on the head, causing her to loosen her grip and freeing the victim. Medics quickly wrapped the visitor’s arm and thigh with cloth to control the bleeding before rushing him to the hospital for further treatment. He received more than 50 stitches.
Police officers told local media that the man had climbed into the enclosure because he thought the crocodile was fake.
“The tourist was walking around the area, then he saw the crocodile, which he thought was just a plastic fixture. He climbed the fence and entered the enclosure, and the crocodile attacked him. This kind of behaviour is very dangerous. Nobody should ever enter an animal’s enclosure at the zoo. He put other people’s lives at risk, and he is very lucky to have survived,” Police Staff Sergeant Joel Sajolga of the Siay Municipal Police told multiple outlets, per The Daily Mail.
An investigation into the incident is still ongoing.