Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 27

Johnsons Zoo Reopens Crocodile House 9 Days After 3-Year-Old's Attack, Arrests 30-Year-Old Man

Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 27

Johnsons Zoo Reopens Crocodile House 9 Days After 3-Year-Old's Attack, Arrests 30-Year-Old Man

Q: How did a toddler bypass a 15ft-high barrier to fall into a crocodile pit?

He did not appear to bypass a 15ft-high barrier on his own. The 15ft figure refers to the drop from the raised visitor walkway down to the crocodile enclosure, not to a 15ft fence that had to be climbed. Reports indicate the public viewing area in the Tropical House was built as an elevated walkway, with visitors looking down into the enclosure. The actual barrier along that walkway was reported to be much lower, around 4ft, with additional Perspex and mesh safety features. Police are treating the case as suspected attempted murder, and a 30-year-old man from Norfolk has been arrested and bailed. Investigators do not believe the man knew the child. Multiple reports, including those cited from The Times, say the boy was allegedly thrown into the enclosure rather than falling in by himself. That means the key issue under investigation is not how a toddler independently got over a towering barrier, but how he came to be put over the edge of an elevated viewing platform into the pit below. Cambridgeshire Police have said they are continuing to gather witness evidence to establish exactly what happened. The zoo has said the crocodile house had secure walkways and that there had been no previous reported safety incidents there. The child was rescued by staff and taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, where his condition improved from critical to stable.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 27

Nine days after a three-year-old boy was seriously injured inside the crocodile enclosure, Johnsons of Old Hurst said its Tropical House is now fully open again.
Police arrested and bailed a 30-year-old Norfolk man on suspicion of attempted murder, saying the child was hurt while in the enclosure on 18 June; the suspect was not known to the boy and had been visiting with carers.
The boy, from Cambridgeshire, was treated at the scene and taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital after he was believed to have been attacked by at least one crocodile; police said on Monday he was stable and no longer critically ill.
Zoo staff pulled him from the enclosure, and the site had initially shut the Tropical House out of respect for the family; a reptile welfare official said members of the Johnson family were involved in the rescue and remained shaken.
The Cambridgeshire zoo's crocodile house, built in 2009, contains Nile crocodiles, broad-snouted caiman and American alligators in a converted barn with elevated fenced walkways.