A tourist in the Philippines got a lot more than he bargained for after he climbed into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo just to snap a selfie.
This happened on April 28 at Kabug Mangrove Park and Wetlands zoo in Zamboanga Sibugay. He was just there visiting, but things quickly went from “fun day out” to something straight out of a horror movie.
He mistook a real crocodile for a statue
The guy, 29 years old, apparently thought the crocodile was fake. Like, he truly believed it was a statue.
So, without thinking much, he jumped over the fence, waded through some water, and pulled out his phone for a selfie. He didn’t realize until it was way too late that the crocodile was very much alive — and not happy.
The crocodile attacked as others shouted warnings
People nearby saw what was happening and started yelling at him to get out. But the croc moved fast.
It grabbed onto his arm with its jaws and just clamped down. This was a 15-foot-long croc named Lalay, and she wasn’t done after that. The whole scary moment was even caught on video.
Police confirm he entered thinking it was just a display
Police Staff Sergeant Joel Sajolga, of the Siay Municipal Police, told local media:
“The tourist was walking around the area, then he saw the crocodile, which he thought was just a plastic fixture. He climbed the fence and entered the enclosure, and the crocodile attacked him.”
The crocodile performed a terrifying ‘death roll’
In the video, you can see Lalay chomping on his arm, then biting his thigh. It gets worse — she flipped him over, spinning him like a rotisserie chicken.
That move’s known as a “death roll.”
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville explains: “Contrary to popular belief, crocodiles can’t chew, so they use a powerful bite coupled with a full-bodied twisting motion – a death roll – to disable, kill, and dismember prey into smaller pieces.
The lethal movement is characteristic of both alligators and crocodiles and has been featured in numerous movies and nature documentaries.”
He was trapped with the crocodile for thirty minutes
Somehow, he ended up stuck in that enclosure with the crocodile for a full 30 minutes.
Just him and Lalay, way too close for comfort. Nobody stepped in right away — they had to wait for help to arrive.
A zookeeper finally rescued him with a bold move
Eventually, one of the zoo workers came and did what they could.
It’s said they hit the croc on the head with a piece of cement. That finally made her let go.
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He miraculously survived but needed dozens of stitches
Even after all that — the bites, the flipping, the 30 minutes stuck in there — the guy somehow survived.
They rushed him to the hospital, and he ended up needing more than 50 stitches.
People watching were glad he made it out alive. But a lot of folks couldn’t believe he’d done something that risky in the first place.
Police urge people never to enter animal enclosures
Sgt. Sajolga resolved by warning others against any sort of similar behavior when visiting a zoo.
He said: “This kind of behavior is very dangerous. Nobody should ever enter an animal’s enclosure at the zoo.
He put other people’s lives at risk and he is very lucky to have survived.”
