A zookeeper in Taiwan has undergone seven hours of surgery to have his arm reattached after it was bitten off by a crocodile, while another zoo worker in Argentina was today fighting for her life following a freak attack by an anteater.

In Taiwan, doctors today announced they had completed the intensive surgery to reattach Chang Po-yu's forearm after a 440-pound Nile crocodile bit it clean off.

The country's Liberty Times newspaper reported that the country's accident happened at the Shaoshan Zoo in the southern city of Kaohsiung, when the veterinarian tried to retrieve a tranquiliser dart from the reptile’s hide so he could give it medication.

But as he put his arm through the iron bar of the crocodile's cage, Mr Chang, 38, had failed to notice that it had not yet been fully anaesthetised.

The 17-year-old reptile - which is an endangered species and known as a man-eater because of its vicious and temperamental nature - immediately pounced and ripped Mr Chang's arm clean off.

As the vet was rushed to the hospital yesterday, drifting in and out of consciousness as he did so, an employee launched a battle to retrieve his arm by shooting two bullets at the crocodile’s neck. Although the bullets failed to penetrate the crocodile's hide, it was sufficiently stunned to cause it to drop the arm.

"The crocodile was unharmed, as we didn’t find any bullet holes on its hide," Chen Po-tsun, a zoo official, was quoted as saying.

"It probably was shocked, and opened its mouth to let go of the limb."

Meanwhile, in Argentina, the TV channel America, reported that a sudden and brutal attack by an anteater had severely damaged a female zookeeper's stomach, liver and lungs at a zoo in Buenos Aires.

Utilising its long claws, the creature tore into the vet, who has not been named, and left her in a critical condition.

"The woman’s condition is very serious," Jose Potito, director of the hospital where the woman was being treated, told the station.

Anteaters, which can measure up to 9.2 feet long and weigh as much as 110 pounds, are natives to Latin America and have toothless snouts.

The species, which are endangered according to the Argentine Wildlife Foundation, are usually not aggressive, but their long, knife-like claws can do serious damage to predators when they defend themselves.

A worker at the zoo told the television station that the attack was an accident, and said the animal was not punished in response.

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