19 February 2009

Requesting info from the Aussies on this board...

... or the Floridians, or anyone else who normally steps over alligators and crocs on their way to work.

There was a story this week of a 5-year-old boy in Queensland who was eaten alive by a crocodile while his brother watched. His remains were discovered "in an operation on the stomach of the crocodile."

It's a tragic story, but what puzzles me is this part:
The crocodile will be sent to a zoo or farm after the Doble family asked for it to be kept alive. Because it killed somebody it will not be put on display.
That's an admirably noble gesture on the part of the family. But it also means that the authorities were able to retrieve the body parts in some manner short of a necropsy. How is that done? Are there endoscopes with grasping forceps that are inserted transorally? Or does the croc undergo laparotomy and gastrotomy under general anesthesia? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks in advance.

4 comments:

  1. they pump the stomachs, keep the mouth open with some serious pvc pipe. That's surprising they will actually let it live, usually once a gator even attacks a person it is killed.

    I grew up in Florida and spent a lot of time in the everglades.

    ReplyDelete
  2. link I found that has a picture
    http://myfwc.com/GATORS/research/griffin/slides4.htm

    didn't read much of it, but it looks like a description of the process begins on page 11
    http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0004367/rice_a.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like a gavage, as would be done on humans who overdose.

    You're fast. Thanks!

    stan

    ReplyDelete
  4. speed is due to google reader and a job where I am continuously in front of a computer

    ReplyDelete

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