Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
The male crocodile severed Chang Po-yu's forearm at the Shaoshan Zoo in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. Mr Chang, a zookeeper and vet, had been trying to retrieve a tranquiliser dart from the crocodile's hide so he could give it medication. But he appears not to have realised the reptile was not fully sedated when he stuck his arm through an iron rail.
They did manage to get the arm back from the crocodile and reattached it successfully after seven hours of surgery. Video of the zoo employees retrieving the arm at the link, though it's far less gruesome than the picture above.
Yuck, apo. But I guess everyone mourns Vonnegut's death in their own personal way.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at April 12, 2007 04:11 PMListen: M/tch M/lls' pseud has come unstuck from comment 5.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at April 12, 2007 04:34 PMDid I miss something, or did they shoot and kill that crocodile to get the arm back?
Posted by: NotATurtle at April 12, 2007 05:55 PMNo, they hit it with a second tranquilizer dart, and the croc jumped and dropped the arm.
Posted by: apostropher at April 12, 2007 06:59 PMA follow-up article reports that half an hour later, the crocodile was hungry again.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at April 12, 2007 07:07 PMApo. Apo...Apo...Apo...
you've crossed the line, dear brother. hopefully the turkey salad I just ate won't be tasted a second time, but at this point it's rather likely...
Posted by: Jon at April 12, 2007 07:15 PMOddly, this bothers me way, way less than most of the things you post. Maybe because it's so bizarre it doesn't look real, or something.
Posted by: bitchphd at April 12, 2007 07:43 PMit's so bizarre it doesn't look real
Long, long ago, when I was a Kinko's peon, a law firm brought in pictures to have color copies made. A Duke student had been riding the cross-campus bus, fell out, and had her head run over by the bus. The human head does not hold up well against bus tires.
The pictures were taken at the scene and were evidence in the lawsuit her family was bringing. Nobody else would even look at them so, of course, I said I'd make the copies. And they were just so horrific that my brain wouldn't let it look real.
Posted by: apostropher at April 12, 2007 08:54 PMIs it real? I mean, how exactly does a crocodile rip a person's arm off? Don't those teeth look like they're made for grabbing, not cutting? They're not exactly steak knives.
Anyway, what impresses me about the story, if rue, is that the croc was not killed. The Chnese seem to be more tolerant of man-eating beasts than we are.
Posted by: lemuel pitkin at April 12, 2007 09:06 PMReally though, I've seen stranger, like a whole room full of disembodied human heads sitting in little formalin-filled deli trays.
Posted by: Jon at April 12, 2007 09:33 PMThank goodness they got the forearm before it was swallowed - I hate to have heard they slaughtered the poor beast because of the zookeeper's foolishness.
Plus the arm might have been a little less salvageable after being bathed in stomach acid.
Apparently they did fire a pistol at it that seems to have done no damage.
Posted by: TokyoTom at April 13, 2007 02:01 AM"How'd that crocodile get through the thumbprint scanner at security?"
Posted by: just john at April 13, 2007 01:28 PM