KIEV, Ukraine (AP) _ The crocodile in ``Peter Pan'' happily went ``tick-tock'' after swallowing an alarm clock but a crocodile in Ukraine has been a little less fortunate.
Gena, a 14-year-old crocodile at an aquarium in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, has been refusing food and acting listless after eating a cell phone dropped by a woman as she tried to photograph him.
Aquarium workers initially didn't believe Rimma Golovko, a new mother in her 20s, when she complained that the crocodile had swallowed her phone.
``But then the phone started ringing and the sound was coming from inside our Gena's stomach and we understood she wasn't lying,'' said Alexandra, an employee who declined to give her last name as she wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
Golovko admits the accident was her fault. She stretched out her arm to snap a photo of Gena opening his mouth and dropped her Nokia phone into the water.
``This should have been a very dramatic shot, but things didn't work out,'' she said.
Golovko is resigned to losing her phone, but still wants its SIM card back since that has her precious photos and contacts.
The mishap has caused bigger problems for the crocodile, which has not eaten or had a bowel movement in four weeks and appears depressed and in pain.
``The animal is not feeling well,'' said Alexandra. ``His behavior has changed, he moves very little and swims much less than he used to.''
Doctors tried to whet the crocodile's appetite this week by feeding him live quail rather than the pork or beef he usually gets once a week. The quail were injected with vitamins and a laxative, but while Gena smothered one bird, he didn't eat it.
He also won't play with three fellow African crocodiles, despite being the leader in the group. Crocodiles can live up to 100 years.
``He is the biggest and the oldest, perhaps he went for the phone to protect his group,'' Alexandra said.
Dnipropetrovsk chief veterinarian Oleksandr Shushlenko said the crocodile will be taken for an X-ray next week if he continues to refuse food. Surgically removing the phone would be a measure of last resort, he said, since incisions and stitches usually take at least three weeks to heal in reptiles and the procedure is dangerous for the animal and the vets.
``Everything will depend on where the foreign body is located,'' Shushlenko said. ``We don't have much experience working with such large animals.''
The crocodile in ``Peter Pan'' with the ticking stomach was on the hunt for Captain Hook after getting a taste for the pirate's flesh from eating one of his hands. But luckily for Hook, he could always hear the crocodile coming.
<한글 기사>
휴대전화를 삼킨 뒤 식욕을 잃어버린 악어가 있다. 이 악어는 무려 한달 간이나 식욕부진을 겪고 있는 것으로 알려졌다.
AFP통신은 22일(현지시간) 우크라이나에 있는 한 악어가 휴대전화를 삼킨 뒤 음식을 입에도 대지 않고 있다고 보도했다. ‘제나’라고 불리는 이 나일악어는 지난해 12월 말 한 방문객이 악어의 사진을 찍으려 할때 그의 휴대전화를 삼켜버렸다. 이후에 며칠동안 이 악어의 몸 안에서는 벨소리가 들렸다.
우크라이나 동부 도시인 드니프로페트로브스크(Dnipropetrovsk)에 있는 수족관의 대변인은 “제나의 컨디션은 하루가 다르게 나빠지고 있다. 직원들은 휴대전화를 꺼내는 수술이 너무 위험한 것 아닌지 우려하고 있다”고 말했다. 그는 이어 “제나는 한달 간이나 이동하고 물속에도 들어가지만 아무 것도 먹지 않았다”고 덧붙였다.
수의사들은 변통을 유도하기 위해 ‘제나’에게 배변을 쉽게 하는 약과 메추라기 고기가 들어간 비타민제를 줬지만 제나는 끝내 입에 대지 않았다.
“앞으로는 물과 공기를 따뜻하게 해서 식욕을 높이려는 노력을 할 것”이라고 이 대변인은 덧붙였다. (헤럴드 생생뉴스)
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