Boy 9 Mauled to Death by Dragon
Daily Telegraph Tuesday-June 5th 2007
JAKARTA: A Komodo dragon has mauled to death a boy in eastern Indonesia.
The 9-year-old boy, Mansur, was relieving himself in bush on Komodo island, part of the Komodo National Park, when the animal attacked, Manggarai Barat district police chief Buce Hello said.
"The Komodo attacked him, bit him and tossed him around, and only released him after villages threw stones at it,"Mr Hello said.
The island, one of the largest in the Komodo National Park has no medical clinic and the boy, a local, died shortly after the atack.
The park and the western and northern coastlines of neighbouring Flores island are the natural habitats of the giant Komodo dragon, the world's largest monitor lizard which can grow to 3m in length and weigh up to 140kg.
There are an estimated 3000 Komodo dragons remaining in the park and surrounding areas, and although they are known to be viscious and aggressive, fatas attacks on humans are rare.
greg: While being rare there are a number of cases where tourists were eaten. Shame that the locals dont have any medical facilities.
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