'Monster Crocodile' Bites Girl's Head Off

[WriteDown]

Source: Sky News

A crocodile has bitten off a 10-year-old girl's head after knocking over the canoe she was travelling in.

The crocodile attacked the boat from behind

She was on her way to a floating school on the Agusan Marsh in the Philippineswhen the huge reptile capsized the boat, the provincial government said.

The girl fell into the water during the attack on Saturday, but her headless body was not discovered until two days later.

A classmate who was with her was rescued by a man who had been escorting the pair in another boat, said Ruel Hipulan, head of the private group which runs the school....

Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Crocodile-Attack-Croc-Bites-Off-Girls-Head-On-Agusan-Marsh-In-Philippines/Article/200903215240174?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15240174_Crocodile_Attack%3A_Croc_Bites_Off_Girls_Head_On_Agus

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Geez! What a way to have to travel to school.

[jobycom]

1. Christ. All I had to do was walk uphill in the snow both ways.

Seriously, I wish I hadn't read this one. Too sad.

[FudaFuda]

2. Not a monster crocodile.

Just a regular old, everyday crocodile.

[RebelOne]

14. If it's a crocodile, it's a monster. n/t

[hlthe2b]

16. 30 feet (9 meters) sounds pretty extraordinary and more likely

a Salt Water Croc....

We can be cavalier about alligators in this country with out many consequences, but I dare say no one is around salt water crocs.

[WriteDown]

18. The American Alligator...

is probably the "friendliest" crocodilian, although some of the dwarf caimans are close. I have toyed with the idea of getting one, but it would be far too much trouble.

[geek tragedy]

25. It's certainly an exaggeration.

No one has seen photgraphed alive 21 footer.

[hlthe2b]

32. Yes... but even with exaggeration, this seems more likely to be

a very large Salt Water croc...

[geek tragedy]

35. Oh I agree. AFAIK, there are only three species

of crocs known for killing people, and the other two are located thousands of miles away.

[geek tragedy]

27. Regular old crocodiles are monsters.

Not in a perjorative sense, but if you've ever been within 50 yarsd of a 14-16 footer, you know what I mean.

[blues90]

38. I've seen saltwater crocs and they do look huge

They look like they are made of stone until they move. Even 16 feet is a monster , it's just the length but the girth and the size of the head.

I've seen footage that they can gallop at 25 MPH in short bursts standing high on all fours.

[Coventina]

3. When I was in Vietnam I visited a floating village

and while I was there I saw a tiny girl, probably only about 5 years old, paddling her own small boat, all by herself. There was no other boat but ours in the vicinity. I wondered where she was going and what she was doing all by herself.

I thought to myself, "Wow, in the States her parents would be arrested for letting her do that!"

Needless to say, she was not wearing a life vest.

Granted, I saw no evidence of crocodiles in the area.

[hlthe2b]

4. Heavens... among the worst ways to go, I'd imagine...

The horror of witnessing for that second child will stay with them...

[WriteDown]

5. Actually, hopefully not.

Immensely powerful animals so I imagine it was very quick.

[Kalyke]

21. And probably done far out of site.

Alligators and crocs take their prey down to the murky bottom to kill them.

Let's hope so, for the second child's sake, anyway.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[msongs]

6. PI croc extremely rare, only about 100 or so known living in wild per wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_crocodile

this attack while sad is extremely rare.

Msongs

[WriteDown]

8. This isn't a PI croc, too large....

Likely a Saltwater croc. If you've ever seen one live, it is truly humbling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_Crocodile#Distribution

[Blue_Tires]

24. GOD FUCKIN' DAMN....

i'll tell someone to shoot that big bastard, but bullets would only make it stronger....

[bertman]

7. This is horrible, but I am puzzled as to why the croc stopped after eating only

the head of the child. Wouldn't a croc eat the body too?

[WriteDown]

9. Most likely...

The girl was not what the croc "thought" she was. Not the usual prey and croc probably realized that too late.

[DinahMoeHum]

12. Same thing with so-called "man-eating" sharks and big cats.

We humans taste lousy to them.

:shrug:

[WriteDown]

20. I've heard its not so much that we taste bad

as its more more of that we just don't taste like what is expecting. Not to make light, but like taking a swig of OJ thinking it it Coke. I've heard that some can become accustomed to eating humans if it becomes a main source of food though. Then again, how you're going to determine this is beyond me.

[geek tragedy]

30. Sharks, maybe. Big cats certainly will eat us if they kill us.

They've been doing it for thousands of years. It's a major problem in Africa with lions and in India with tigers.

Crocs don't really taste, IIRC.

[DinahMoeHum]

11. dupe

n/t

[geek tragedy]

31. It probably thought the boat was a rival male.

The attacker was almost certainly a big male crocodile, and it was probably attacking to defend its turf.

[mcjackson]

13. Not a good time....

...to lose one's head.

[wackywaggin]

15. Just punishment for the madoff clan!!

Just gave me the idea. Throw the clan into a river full of hungry crocidiles!!

[biopowertoday]

19. This is not the time for snarking off messages. You demean yourself

and make Democrats and DU look ugly. Think of the family and grow up.

[bertman]

28. Relax, biopowertoday. Make Dems and DU look ugly? Come on.

[hyphenate]

17. Oooh, I see

another Sci-Fi, grade B horror movie coming out of this--with both Shannen Doherty AND Stephen Baldwin in it!

[OnyxCollie]

33. And Bruce Boxleitner.

[tangent90]

22. Yikes! here's another croc-eats-kid story from that same source

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Australia-Crocodile-Death-Remains-Of-Missing-Jeremy-Doble-Aged-Found-In-Crocodile-In-Queensland/Article/200902315224920?lpos=World_News_Article_Related_Content_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15224920_Australia_Crocodile_Death%3A_Remains_Of_Missing_Jeremy_Doble_Aged_Found_In_Crocodile_In_Queensland

[Arugula Latte]

23. God. How horrific. I hope it happened very quickly so she wasn't aware of what was happening.

[BOSSHOG]

26. Last summer a 12 foot alligator bit the arm off a boy swimming in a pond

near his home about 30 miles northeast of New Orleans. The boy lived and is doing well. Its not uncommon to see Gator roadkill near the interstates in and around New Orleans.

[Belial]

29. Ouch

[RebelOne]

34. Many years ago, I think it was in the 1970s,

there was a place in South Miami called the Miami Serpentarium owned by Bill Haas. I had been there many times.

A little boy fell into the crocodile pit and the croc ate him. I remember that story well. I think the crocodile's name was Cookie. The father let the boy sit on the wall above the pit and he fell in.

Here's an excerpt from an interview with Bill Haas:

» The boy that fell in the pit, that was rough. It happened in 1977. He was 6. I remember I was in the lab doing something and one of the employees comes running in and said a person fell in the crocodile pit. I remember running. I jumped over the wall and on the crocodile’s head. He was partially submerged. I was expecting him to let go, but he didn’t. He backed up in the water and took the child with him.

» I was up all night. What should I do? What should I do? I debated with myself. The crocodile did only what he knew to do. What should I do? I shot him and buried him in the pit, next to a monument. That was a time I considered closing the serpentarium.

Link to story:

www.floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=49389

[geek tragedy]

36. Tragic, but that was human stupidity.

Both with the parent who let the boy go up there, and with Haas himself who should have had a much better railing in place.

[RebelOne]

39. No railing. Just a stone wall above the crocodile's pit.

The stupid father sat the son on the stone wall and the boy went over.

[primavera]

40. We've become so accustomed to killing every living thing we meet...

... we forget that not all creatures are incapable of defending themselves.

[ebay_bizzare]

37. owtch

owtch