Beihai forestry authorities have been given a deadline to
investigate the circumstances leading to the death of a boy who was
killed by crocodiles at a wildlife park in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region last
month.
The tragedy occurred at about 6 PM on April 20, when a
9-year-old boy surnamed Liu and three other children from Xiantian
Primary School snuck into a temporarily closed crocodile pool,
Xinhua News Agency reported.
The boys teased the beasts until one of them attacked Liu and
dragged him into water, where he was torn to pieces by a
congregation of crocodiles.
The local Party discipline inspection department sent a letter
of inquiry last week to the Beihai forestry bureau, which is in
charge of wildlife protection and management.
The letter ordered the bureau to investigate the case within a
certain amount of time and to turn over both the people responsible
and a renovation plan to avoid further problems. Details of the
deadline were not made available.
The local discipline inspection department introduced the letter
of inquiry system earlier this year. So far, 16 local officials
have lost their posts under the system.
Crocodile breeding is strictly supervised, requiring the
approval of forestry and marine departments, local discipline
officials said.
However, "this crocodile pool is illegal and does not possess
valid breeding certification," Tang Yongbin, deputy director of the
Beihai forestry bureau, told www.cctv.com.
The crocodile enclosure is part of a recreational park at a
holiday resort called Yintan, or Silver Beach, in Beihai. A local
court had earlier ordered the park to close because of outstanding
debt.
Eleven crocodiles were living in the pool when the accident
happened. Crocodiles are on the State endangered animal list.
Police snipers later shot dead one of the animals after parts of
Liu's body were found in its stomach.
The remaining 10 crocodiles were moved to the Guangxi endangered
wild animal protection center for breeding and care.
"The crocodiles are the only innocent parties in this whole
incident," Jiang Jinsong, a sociologist at Tsinghua University, was
quoted by Beijing News as saying.
"Poor wildlife management is the real culprit," Jiang said.
Local residents said students from nearby primary schools often
went to the crocodile pool to play, China News Service
reported.
Locals said the park's owner had hired a keeper for the
crocodiles, but at the time of the accident he was cooking a meal
and did not see the children enter.
The manager and the caretaker are in police custody pending
further investigation.
(China Daily May 17, 2007)