Aquarium croc gets the blues after swallowing a visitor's cell phone

Crocodile Gena from the aquarium in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk is not feeling very well, after wolfing down the Nokia of a careless visitor. Rimma Golovko dropped the phone in the croc's pool, while stretching out to take a picture of the reptile while he was opening his mouth, and Gena immediately snapped and swallowed the handset.

The aquarium attendants refused to believe her at first, but when they rang her phone, and the sound was coming from inside the crocodile, it was clear that Gena had a Nokia for lunch. "His behavior has changed," said an employee named Alexandra. "He moves very little and swims much less than he used to."

Gena has stopped eating and paying attention to the three African crocodiles around him, and vets will take him to X-ray next week, if the phone doesn't pass through. Surgery is considered as a last resort, since wounds heal slowly in reptiles, but the vets might have to do it after all, if the cell phone continues to worsen the crocodile's health. The girl that was the reason for the commotion hopes to retrieve her SIM card with her pictures and contacts.

source: AP via Reghardware

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