Yahoo News Elderly man bitten by Fidel Castro's crocodile
A crocodile that once belonged to the Cuban leader Fidel Castro has bitten an elderly man, leaving him needing hospital treatment in Sweden.
The man in his 70s was at a crayfish party, a traditional Nordic summertime event with eating and drinking, at the Skansen Aquarium in Stockholm when he was attacked.
Police said the man had his arm “on the wrong side of the security glass” when the reptile, called Castro, struck.
He was taken to hospital with a “heavily bandaged” arm, but the extent of his injuries are not clear.
Jonas Wahlstrom, head of Skansen Aquarium, said: “Nothing like this has ever happened with these crocodiles before."
The crocodile was one of two - the other is named Hillary - donated to the museum by cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov in 1981. Fidel Castro had given Shatalov the reptiles in 1978, but the Russian was unable to keep them at home and Moscow Zoo was too small.
Read More on Yahoo News
Philippine boy eaten by crocodile in latest attack
Horrific find inside dead crocodile raises fears about what it had eaten
The gift was seen as a sign of friendship between the communist nations.
Castro and Hillary have had 11 children since they arrived at Skansen Aquarium.
Conserving the Cuban crocodile was one of Castro’s first priorities when he gained power in 1959.
He died aged 90 in November 2016.
