A man visiting a zoo in the Philippines brought a crocodile to take a selfie with the animal and it turned out to be a real fist in the face, when the croc attacked the man.
On 28 April, the tourist is said to have be misunderstanding the very the real reptile for a statue and, while visiting the zoo, clambering over a fence and wading through water to get near it, and in order to take a selfie from his phone.
Shouts rang out from crowds of onlookers telling the man to return to the enclosure, but he did not listen and as he approached the 15ft long death machine, called Lalay, went for him.
Lalay’s teeth sank into his flesh as the man screamed in pain, crocodile’s jaws snapping into his arm.
Next, she would not allow him to try to break free and so sunk her teeth into his thigh and threw him over several times to make good on the ‘death roll’.
The tourist stayed up to 30 minutes stuck in the enclosure with the crocodile at Kabug Mangrove Park and Wetlands zoo, all alone until the animal handler arrived to rescue him.
According to the handler, he also slammed Lalay the crocodile over the head with a piece of cement in order to free the tourist from her snapping jaws.
Bleeding wounds saw him given medical treatment and passed to hospital where he was given more than 50 stitches.
Staff Sergeant Joel Sajolga, speaking on behalf of Siay Municipal Police said: ‘The tourist was walking around the area, then he saw the crocodile and he thought it was a plastic fixture.’
The crocodile attacked him, he climbed the fence and went into the enclosure.
But this kind of behaviour is very dangerous. No one should ever go into the animal enclosure of a zoo. And he placed others at risk with his life, and he’s very lucky he’s still alive.”
There were a number of zookeepers present who did not stop the 29 year old from getting over the fence and attempting to take a selfie with the reptile, police added.
Glad he survived his ordeal, those who saw the man jumping into the enclosure described themselves as ‘…I don’t know why he would do such a stupid thing…’
‘You were happy that the man is alive and he only let him go because the man’s legs weren’t broken by the crocodile,’ said the onlooker, who gave his name as Canete Jie.
The man waded into the shallow pool to pose alongside the reptile for the pictures, locals who recorded the reckless stunt said. Lalay is understood by him to have been so still that he believed she was a life size model.