Zoo Visitors Beat Crocodile to Death With Rocks

Tunisian officials are decrying "savage behavior" after visitors to a zoo in Tunis stoned a crocodile to death Tuesday, AFP reports. Officials posted photos of the dead crocodile—with two large, bloody stones next to it—on Facebook (Warning: graphic). The crocodile died from internal hemorrhaging after being hit by the two rocks. “You cannot imagine what animals endure from some visitors,” says a veterinarian at Belvedere Zoo. He says guests have also thrown rocks at hippos and lions. The problem gets worse during school holidays, and the zoo can't station guards outside every enclosure, according to the vet.

The International Business Times reports the crocodile isn't the only zoo resident to have been victimized by visitors in recent days. A hippo at a zoo in El Salvador succumbed to its injuries Sunday after being attacked by zoo guests who entered its cage. The hippo, named Gustavito, had been at the San Salvador Zoo for 12 years. It refused to eat following the attack and eventually died from its injuries. (More animal cruelty stories.)