{"id":531786,"date":"2026-07-18T05:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531786\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T05:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:02:14","slug":"toddler-thrown-into-crocodile-pit-by-stranger-undergoes-seventh-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/531786\/","title":{"rendered":"Toddler thrown into crocodile pit by stranger undergoes seventh surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cToday, our son had his seventh surgery,\u201d his family wrote on a GoFundMe page <\/a>set up by the boy\u2019s grandmother this week.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice at Johnson’s of Old Hurst, in Huntingdonshire, after a 3-year-old boy ended up in a crocodile enclosure. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThey harvested a nerve from his leg to replace part of the nerve that was missing in his left arm. Over time, this nerve will hopefully embed and help our son to regain some function in his left hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family said they will not know whether the nerve graft has been successful until further tests are carried out later this year.<\/p>\n

They explained the situation the family had faced, particularly on the day their son arrived at the hospital on the day of the attack. They also shared what doctors faced.<\/p>\n

\u2018We were unsure our son was going to make it\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cOur son underwent a 12-hour surgery where the surgeons performed miraculous things. They were faced with tendon damage, nerve damage, blood vessel damage, broken bones and severe tissue damage in… his arms, neck, head and face.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family described that first surgery as \u201cthe worst 12 hours of our lives\u201d. They had earlier been asked to sign consent forms regarding resuscitation and amputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were unsure if our son was going to make it and that was the worst feeling in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour weeks later and the cheeky little boy that we love so much is talking to the nurses, playing using his feet and smiling again. We are amazed at how far he has come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family is hoping the latest surgery will be the last for now and they are preparing to go home soon. <\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s parents have decided to take time off work temporarily as they work to support their son\u2019s rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

The GoFundMe page is to help support the family at this time. Just before noon today, more than \u00a397,700 ($225,000) had been donated by people worldwide.<\/p>\n

Carers of man under investigation<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the carers and care provider linked to the 30-year-old man with learning disabilities involved in the incident.<\/p>\n

Witnesses of the attack told the Daily Mail that the man\u2019s carers had been about 10m behind him and were on their phones at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n

Another witness told the publication the two carers were spotted allegedly trying to get the man into a car in an attempt to leave the zoo, before a staff member stopped them.<\/p>\n

Police arrested the man on suspicion of attempted murder, but later released him on bail, deeming him unfit to be interviewed. It is understood he is on bail until at least September.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cToday, our son had his seventh surgery,\u201d his family wrote on a GoFundMe page set up by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28210,74,682,3595,8166,107008,6119,42,104,296,21737,2190,2510,43,20213,1881,1314,46803,24002,31145,65837,6290,25447,13835,40,38,41,39,30647,27342],"class_list":["post-531786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-3yearold","tag-after","tag-being","tag-by","tag-crocodile","tag-enclosure","tag-faces","tag-headlines","tag-injuries","tag-into","tag-lifethreatening","tag-long","tag-multiple","tag-news","tag-pit","tag-recovery","tag-road","tag-seventh","tag-stranger","tag-suffered","tag-surgeries","tag-surgery","tag-thrown","tag-toddler","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-undergoes","tag-undergone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}