April 12, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1428

TAIPEI: Police in Taiwan were forced to shoot a crocodile after it bit off the arm of the zoo veterinarian treating it, an official said on Wednesday. Dramatic television footage showed a police officer firing on the animal to wrest the severed limb from its jaws. Chang Po-yu, 38, from the southern Kaohsiung city’s Shou Shan Zoo, was injecting the sick crocodile with anaesthetic when it attacked him.

He was said to be in a stable condition after being rushed to hospital for an emergency operation to re-attach his arm, an local official said, although it was not immediately clear whether Chang would recover.—AFP