CNN: Beijing: Missing child found in shot crocodile

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4/22/07

Missing child found in shot croc

 

Story Highlights

* Crocodile shot during search for missing 9-year-old contained child's remains

* Witnesses say child had earlier tormented reptiles in park

* Police hold park keeper, who was absent at time of the attack

 

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A crocodile shot to death in south China

during a search for a missing 9-year-old student was found to contain

the child's remains, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The crocodile was shot Saturday in a park in Beihai, a city in the

Guangxi region, by investigators looking for the missing child.

Investigators confirmed that human remains found in the reptile were

that of the student, the report said.

The child, surnamed Liu, disappeared Friday after Liu and three other

children climbed over the fence around a pool in the park that had

been used to stage crocodile shows, Xinhua said.

" The children shot the animals with catapults and beat them with

wooden sticks, " the agency said. " One of the irritated crocodiles bit

Liu's clothes and dragged him into water, where he was eaten by a

swarm of crocodiles. "

Snipers used pork to lure the reptiles from the pool on Saturday and

shot the first one that crawled ashore, the report said.

No other details were given, and it wasn't immediately clear what

would happen to the other crocodiles.

Local residents said the park's owner had hired a keeper for the

crocodiles, but it was not clear why the man was not at the site when

the students broke in, the report said.

The manager and the keeper were being held by police.

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Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/china.croc.ap/index.html

 

 

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