BLOOD-CURDLING screams were heard after a three-year-old boy was allegedly thrown into a crocodile enclosure by a stranger with “learning difficulties.”
Families were swiftly evacuated from the “eerie” UK zoo after the child was attacked by at least one of the reptiles and remains in a critical condition.
The mum said she had a gut feeling to not go into the enclosure Credit: SWNS
The mum describes hearing a “loud scream” from the crocodile house Credit: SWNS
A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but he has since been released on bail after deemed him unfit for interview.
The child is in hospital and is said to be in a stable but critical condition and reportedly broke his arm and pelvis in the 15ft fall.
One mum was sitting on a bench with her two-year-old daughter when she heard a heart-stopping scream from the reptile enclosure at Johnsons at Cambridgeshire, yesterday.
As she started to hear sirens she thought there had been a road accident, but then the zoo fell eerily quiet and she saw a white sheet being carried.
Andy Johnson, the zoo owner, at the scene this morning Credit: Terry Harris
Police arrested a 30-year-old man with learning difficulties at the scene Credit: PA
The boy and the man were not known to each other police have confirmed Credit: SWNS
Heroic Tracey who leapt into the enclosure to save the boy with her husband Andy today Credit: Bav Media
The mum along with other families were then asked to leave the area outside the reptile house.
The mum, who is in her 20s, told SWNS: “We were sitting on a bench in the park between the bear and the crocodile enclosure.
“I was on the phone with my dad when it was all happening as my daughter was calling the capybaras happy-baras.
“We sat there and heard a loud scream. Never in a million years did I think someone was in with the crocodiles.
“The whole zoo went really quiet and it felt really eerie.”
She also revealed how she had a gut feeling “not to go into the crocodile house” earlier that day.
The mum said shortly afterwards she and other visitors were asked to leave an open area next to the enclosure because “there had been an incident.”
The woman said that within ten minutes of the scream she heard sirens as two police vans and four police cars arrived at the zoo where she stood outside.
She added: “We then saw the air ambulance come over within about 10 minutes.”
The boy was airlifted to hospital after the horrific incident Credit: SWNS
Andy Johnson and Crocodiles in the enclosure in 2018 Credit: Terry Harris
“We thought there had been a road accident.”
But then she noticed a white sheet being held up near the zoo cafe and said the atmosphere felt “eerie and weirdly quiet”.
She added: “They held up a white sheet in between the farm shop and the cafe so no one could see what was happening. All of the police cars were there too.
“I think that was out of respect for the family. It felt very eerie and weirdly quiet.
The mum said she was extra fearful as she has two children of a similar age to the boy who was thrown into the pit.
She added: “My daughter was oblivious to everything because she is so little but it is scary because, what went through my head was, if I hadn’t of stopped to make that call it could have been her.”
The mum said she had seen a man walking around the zoo with two carers earlier that morning.
The suspect, was said to be on a day out to the zoo with his carers.
They weren’t watching him when the boy was thrown over the 4ft enclosure fence, according to a local.
Without hesitating, the zoo owner’s wife and leapt over the fence to heroically save the boy from further harm.
Thanks to Tracey’s bravery the child was rescued before disaster struck.
She leapt into the pit while horrified visitors watched on in an act of “exceptional bravery”.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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