Crocodile enclosure incident: man arrested after boy, 3, injured at Cambridgeshire zoo

A man has been arrested after a three-year-old boy was injured inside a crocodile enclosure at a zoo in Cambridgeshire, in an incident that has left visitors and wildlife officials shaken. Police were called to the scene on Tuesday afternoon, and the child was taken to hospital with injuries described as serious but not life-threatening.

What happened at the zoo

The incident occurred at Hamerton Zoo Park, a popular wildlife attraction that draws tens of thousands of visitors each year. According to Cambridgeshire Constabulary, officers arrived at approximately 2:15pm following reports that a young child had entered, or been brought into, a restricted area housing crocodiles. The boy sustained injuries consistent with an animal attack. He was airlifted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where he remained in a stable condition Wednesday morning.

The zoo was immediately closed to the public following the incident. Staff and emergency services cordoned off the reptile house while investigations began. A 40-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of child cruelty and remains in police custody.

Police and zoo response

Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the arrest in a brief statement late Tuesday. “We are working closely with the zoo’s management and relevant authorities to establish the full circumstances of what took place,” a force spokesperson said. “Our immediate priority is the welfare of the child.”

Hamerton Zoo released a short statement saying it was cooperating fully with police and that its own internal review had begun. The zoo didn’t elaborate on the relationship between the arrested man and the child, and officers haven’t yet confirmed whether the two are related.

The zoo’s safety record

Hamerton Zoo Park is no stranger to tragedy. In 2017, a zookeeper, Sarah McClay, was killed by a tiger at the same site — an incident that triggered a significant review of safety procedures across the facility. The zoo subsequently introduced new protocols, and the Health and Safety Executive launched a formal investigation at the time.

It’s unclear whether Tuesday’s incident involved any breach of existing barriers or security measures. That question is now central to the police inquiry.

What happens next

The zoo will remain closed until further notice, pending both the police investigation and a safety assessment by the local authority. Officials from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums are expected to be consulted as part of the wider review.

The three-year-old boy’s family have not made any public comment.

Charges could follow within days, depending on what investigators uncover about how the child came to be inside a restricted enclosure. But for now, the zoo sits quiet — its gates shut, its car park empty — while a little boy recovers in hospital and a community tries to make sense of what went wrong.