A 38-year-old worker at the Bronx Zoo slipped while cleaning an animal enclosure Sunday afternoon was unexpectedly nipped in the arm by a feisty crocodile, according to police and zoo officials.
Cops were called to the famed Big Apple zoo around 2:45 p.m. on a 911 call about a croc bite, and found the unidentified zoo keeper had been bitten in the left arm by the hungry reptile, police said.
The worker, who is expected to keep both his job and his arm, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where police said he was listed in stable condition as 52nd Precinct cops investigate the mishap.
According to Bronx Zoo officials, the unidentified handler was cleaning an enclosure that houses a tomistoma, a member of the crocodile family also known as a Malayan gharial, around 2:30 p.m. when he took a minor tumble and had the unplanned wildlife encounter.
“The keeper was cleaning an enclosure and after slipping, a small tomistoma nipped at the left forearm of the keeper,” a zoo rep said in a statement. “The keeper was treated at a local hospital and released for a minor wound which did not need stitches.”
The incident is believed to be one of the first acts of animal misbehavior at the zoo since a “vicious” peacock made a break for it and wreaked havoc in the Bronx in 2023.
In one of the most horrifying incidents at the park, a demented zoo visitor was mauled and critically injured by a 400-pound Siberian tiger after leaping off the monorail and into the big cat’s enclosure in 2012.
