A crocodile was killed by snipers on Saturday to recover
evidence of Friday's tragedy in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The crocodile was shot dead at 8 PM Saturday with approval of
the local forestry department.
The snipers lured the crocodiles with pork and shoot one that
crawled ashore to death with seven bullets.
Legal medical experts anatomized body of the creature and found
remains of a human being, therefore confirmed the missing child was
eaten by the crocodiles.
The tragedy occurred at about 6 PM on Friday, when a pupil
surnamed Liu and three other children from Xiantian Primary School
climbed over the fence of a crocodile pool which had been
temporarily closed.
The children shot the animals with catapults and beat them with
wooden sticks. One of the irritated alligators bit Liu's clothes
and dragged him into water, where he was eaten by a swarm of
alligators.
The pool, which had been used to stage crocodile shows, is
located in a recreational park in a holiday resort called Yintan,
or Silver Beach, in Beihai city of Guangxi. It had been sealed off
for auction.
Local residents said owner of the park had hired a keeper for
the crocodiles. It is not known why the man was not present when
the accident happened.
The manager and the keeper of the alligator pool have been held
by local police for further investigation.
(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2007)