Swede has arm amputated after Castro's crocodile bit him


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STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish newspaper says a man who was bitten by a crocodile that once belonged to late Cuban leader Fidel Castro has had his arm amputated.

The Aftonbladet tabloid says 79-year-old Lars Liedegren was told doctors had to amputate above the elbow after he put his arm the wrong side of the glass enclosure at the Skansen Aquarium, part of the zoo on Stockholm's Djurgården island, during a private party.

The crocodile jumped up and bit his arm, holding on for about 10 seconds.

The newspaper quoted Liedegren Thursday as saying that he spent three weeks in the hospital.

The rare Cuban crocodile is one of a pair that Castro gave to a Russian cosmonaut in 1978. They lived in Moscow Zoo until they were sent to Stockholm in 1981.

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