Meet Robo-Croc: Ten-foot crocodile gets four metal plates and 41 screws in his head after reconstructive surgery

By Mail Foreign Service
18th March 2009

A 10-foot crocodile is recuperating in a Florida zoo after undergoing reconstructive surgery.

The ground breaking four-hour operation took place at Miami's Metrozoo facility yesterday.

The giant male predator, affectionately named Robo-Croc following the operation, had been close to death after having its head crushed by a car in the Florida Keys last year.

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All patched up: Robo-Croc recuperates after the four metal plates and 41 screws are drilled into his head

Staff took four hours to put Robo-Croc's head back together during the surgery

With its snout hanging limp, the distressed animal has not eaten for three months.

Fearing the worst vets at the zoo had almost given up hope of saving the crocodile before Douglas Mader, of the Marathon Veterinary Hospital, gave him a final chance - by reconstructing the reptile's dry, textured face.

Robo-Croc'had two metal rods placed between its eyes extending down to the bridge of its nose, and another on each side.

Forty-one metal screws were drilled into its hide, keeping the skull and snout together.

Staff work on Robo-Croc

The metal rods holding Robo-Croc's broken jaws together

'Robo-Croc is doing just fine,' said Ron Magill, spokesman for Miami Metrozoo. 'We have a certain responsibility to our endangered, native species and it was either he die on the table today, or die a horrible, slow death.

'There has been reconstructive surgery undertaken on crocodiles before but not to this extent as far as we know.

'We didn't even know if he would survive the surgery so we are delighted that he is now recuperating.

But Robo-Croc is not out of the woods yet.

In the best-case scenario, Mader hopes he will be able to open his mouth and eat again.

'Now its a case of time, making sure the wounds don't become infected and then eventually making sure he has a good meal,' he said.

But if the crocodile does survive Magill said, it will be, the most remarkable thing he has seen in his 30 years at Metrozoo.