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Boy fed zoo reptiles to crocodile
A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile.
Footage from the security cameras at Alice Springs Reptile Centre caught the child smiling as he killed a total of 13 animals.
During his 30-minute spree, he was seen hurling the animals over the security fence into the crocodile enclosure.
Zoo officials described the boy's actions as "unbelievable".
They are considering suing the parents as the boy is too young to be prosecuted.
'Difficult to replace'
The attack happened on Wednesday morning after the boy entered the zoo by jumping over the security fence and evading sensor alarms.
Over the next half hour, he bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure.
At one point, he tried scaling the outer enclosure himself to get to "Terry", the 11ft (3.3m) saltwater crocodile.
A turtle, four Western blue-tongued lizards, two bearded dragons, two thorny devil lizards and the zoo's 20-year-old goanna were among those killed.
Zoo director Rex Neindorf said many of the animals were rare or mature and would be difficult to replace.
"The fact a seven-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable," he told Reuters news agency.
Mr Neindorf said the boy had "clammed up" when questioned by police.
As children under the age of 10 cannot be held accountable for their actions in the Northern Territory, the zoo would be seeking to take action against the parents.
"We'll be looking at suing the parents, who were supposedly in control of him at the time," he said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2008/10/03 08:41:18 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile.
Footage from the security cameras at Alice Springs Reptile Centre caught the child smiling as he killed a total of 13 animals.
During his 30-minute spree, he was seen hurling the animals over the security fence into the crocodile enclosure.
Zoo officials described the boy's actions as "unbelievable".
They are considering suing the parents as the boy is too young to be prosecuted.
'Difficult to replace'
The attack happened on Wednesday morning after the boy entered the zoo by jumping over the security fence and evading sensor alarms.
Over the next half hour, he bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure.
At one point, he tried scaling the outer enclosure himself to get to "Terry", the 11ft (3.3m) saltwater crocodile.
A turtle, four Western blue-tongued lizards, two bearded dragons, two thorny devil lizards and the zoo's 20-year-old goanna were among those killed.
Zoo director Rex Neindorf said many of the animals were rare or mature and would be difficult to replace.
"The fact a seven-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable," he told Reuters news agency.
Mr Neindorf said the boy had "clammed up" when questioned by police.
As children under the age of 10 cannot be held accountable for their actions in the Northern Territory, the zoo would be seeking to take action against the parents.
"We'll be looking at suing the parents, who were supposedly in control of him at the time," he said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2008/10/03 08:41:18 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
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