A routine feeding demonstration turned into a devastating tragedy when an experienced crocodile handler was attacked by one of the animals he had cared for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kupi Rapura, a senior animal keeper at Adventure Park in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, was attacked on September 5 while entering a crocodile enclosure with a chicken for a feeding demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Witnesses said the crocodile suddenly grabbed him and pulled him toward the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rapura desperately held onto the edge of the pool while people outside the enclosure tried to find a way to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The terrifying struggle reportedly lasted for more than an hour as rescuers worked to free him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One witness recalled seeing Rapura conscious but in severe pain. He reportedly managed to say one heartbreaking sentence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t done anything wrong.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Police eventually arrived, and the crocodile was euthanized so rescuers could reach the injured keeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rapura was rushed to the hospital, but his injuries were too severe. He died early the following morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was a father of eight and had spent years working with crocodiles, including at Baiyer Zoo before joining Adventure Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His family was left devastated by the tragedy, especially because the animal had been one he had cared for and trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His nephew described the loss as an unimaginable betrayal by an animal that had been part of his uncle\u2019s life and work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A man who dedicated years to caring for these animals lost his life during a routine demonstration. \ud83d\udc94<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n May he rest in peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n .https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flee.mack.5494%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0req8PEyKw6Roh5dADoBnoXkzFKUY2mXce8xb6cWNBJpvwBNFoL4ug4Yzz58GHyM4l&show_text=true&width=500<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A routine feeding demonstration turned into a devastating tragedy when an experienced crocodile handler was attacked by one of the animals he had cared for. Kupi Rapura, a senior animal keeper at Adventure Park in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, was attacked on September 5 while entering a crocodile enclosure with a chicken for a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19955,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19953\/revisions\/19955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}