Boy remains critical after crocodile attack at Cambridgeshire zoo

A three-year-old boy remained in a critical but stable condition after ending up inside the crocodile enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst in Huntingdonshire, a case that has put the zoo’s safety controls and supervision arrangements under intense scrutiny. Cambridgeshire Police said officers were called at 1.24pm BST on Thursday, 18 June 2026, and the child was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge with serious injuries.

Police arrested a 30-year-old man from Norfolk on suspicion of attempted murder at the scene, but later said he was not fit for interview and has now been bailed. Detectives from the Major Crime Unit are leading the investigation, and police said they do not believe the man and the child are known to each other. The force said the incident involved a boy who ended up in the crocodile enclosure, while the BBC understands the child was attacked by a crocodile and that at least one crocodile was involved.

The episode has drawn attention to how Johnsons of Old Hurst manages a site that combines a farm, butchers, farm shop, tea room, steakhouse and zoo. The business says its crocodiles were originally kept to help dispose of waste meat, before the collection grew and the family was told it would need a zoo licence if it wanted to continue keeping them. The zoo now says it houses more than 100 animals, including Nile crocodiles, saltwater crocodiles, Siamese crocodiles and spectacled caimans.

That history makes the enclosure central to any review of how the incident happened. Johnsons of Old Hurst lists its Tropical House and crocodile experiences as regular parts of the attraction, and its own information shows a broad crocodilian collection that includes broad-snouted caiman, American alligator, Cuvier’s dwarf caiman, Morelet’s crocodile and West African dwarf crocodile, alongside the species already identified by the zoo.

Johnsons of Old Hurst said its thoughts and prayers were with the boy and his family, and that the Tropical House would remain closed until further notice. Huntingdon MP Ben Obese-Jecty urged people not to speculate online and said police were treating the case as critical. The focus now is on how a child reached the enclosure, what safeguards were in place, and whether the zoo’s oversight was enough to protect visitors at a site that markets close contact with dangerous reptiles.