Child bitten after reaching into crocodile enclosure in Israel
A four-year-old boy is recovering after suffering serious injuries in a crocodile attack in Israel.
The boy was visiting a crocodile farm when he ran towards an enclosure in an effort to pat one on Saturday.
He was bitten after reaching his hand through a fence, but his grandmother's caregiver pulled him out of danger.
The crocodiles at the Crocoloco Crocodile Farm in Israel. Tripadvisor
"I heard screams - I went over and his hand looked like it had been torn off," his mother told the Jerusalem Post.
He was treated on the scene by paramedics before being airlifted to a hospital in Beersheba.
He is on the path to recovery, doctors said.
The park manager has been questioned by police for negligent endangerment and operating without a business licence.
"There is unnecessary hysteria here," he was quoted as saying.
Crocodiles are no longer native to Israel after the last of the Nile crocodiles there went extinct in the past century.
As an apex predator, Nile crocodiles like the ones at this farm are known for being very aggressive.
Like other crocodiles, they are known as ambush predators who will wait for hours, days or weeks for an opportunity to attack.
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