"Ow! yah fucker!" Springs to mind.Vet gets arm back after croc attack. Surgeons in southern Taiwan have reattached the left forearm of a vet after it was bitten off by a sick crocodile he was tending in a zoo, they said on Thursday.
Chang Po-yu (38) was in a stable condition in hospital after six hours of surgery, said Fu Ying-chih, the surgeon in charge of the operation.
"The surgery was successful and we are hopeful he could keep the forearm, but it is still early to say to what extent functions of the limb can be restored," he told AFP.
"The following seven to 14 days will be a critical period," Fu added from Chungho Memorial Hospital at Kaohsiung Medical University.
Chang was injecting the male Nile crocodile with anaesthetic in the zoo in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Wednesday when it turned on him, tearing off the forearm and holding it in its mouth.
Nile crocodiles are one of three species found in Africa and are known as man-eaters with the ability and power to snatch and devour a human.
The animal only let go when a police officer fired two bullets into it, zoo officials said, in dramatic scenes caught on television.
Chang was rushed to hospital where the limb, recovered from the crocodile, was delivered some 80 minutes after the accident to the operating theatre.
After the surgery he was seen on television smiling and waving to reporters with his healthy arm from his hospital bed, where he also reportedly tried to comfort his panic-stricken mother.
His girlfriend wept through the operation, television reported, which said friends were worried how soon Chang would be able to resume his hobby of playing the piano.
The vet is known for his devotion to the zoo animals, the reports said. In 2001 he reportedly jumped into the cage of a lion to guide it to safety during a flood.
Local television also showed footage of him weeping when an elephant died suddenly in the zoo several years ago.
Meanwhile, the 300-kilogram crocodile survived the shooting and is now attracting lots of visitors to its enclosure, officials said, some even reportedly crossing a police line to catch a closer glimpse. Source.
Last edited by Milk.org (2007-04-13 20:00:06)
