Aussie Boy Rampage…
A 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo’s director said Friday.
The child then went on a killing spree, bashing three lizards to death with a rock, including the zoo’s beloved, 20-year-old goanna, 
which he then fed to “Terry,” an 11-foot, 440-pound saltwater crocodile, said Neindorf.
The boy also fed several live animals to Terry by throwing them over the two fences surrounding the crocodile’s enclosure, at one point climbing over the outer fence to get closer to the giant reptile.
In the footage, the boy’s face remains largely blank, Neindorf said, adding: “It was like he was playing a game.”
By the time he was done, 13 animals worth around $5,500 had been killed, including a turtle, bearded dragons and thorny devil lizards, Neindorf said. Although none were considered rare, some are difficult to replace, he said.
I had to read this several times to believe it. My son is 8. I’ve seen him be rough with animals, but never to the point that I worried about him truly harming one. I was raised on the corner of a cattle farm, so we always had animals around, so I guess I learned respect for animals through my environment. Jack has done the same, having a total of 6 dogs and 5 cats over his lifetime. I have to wonder what, if anything these parents are teaching their child. I also have to wonder if child services should keep an eye on this family, because something is definitely wrong with this household. Also, because of his age, there is nothing the zoo can really do about the incident.
Holy Crap!
October 6th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I saw this on Friday and was totally floored. I hope the owner of the zoo sues the crap out of these parents because you know if the child would have gotten hurt the parents would sue the crap out of the zoo. This kid has some serious issues and then of course one needs to stop and ask the question…”where the hell were his parents?” We’ve raised Kendall and Erin to respect animals also. I can’t imagine one of them harming our cat or our husky.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Man, this is an all-too-common thing now (the violence for the fun of it, not the breaking into zoos) here in australia. I maintain that the one thing a lot of parents don’t foster in their children is empathy. Like you, I can’t imagine my 9 year old doing this at any age let alone 7!