Surviving a dragon attack

Amber Willard

GRIFFITH PARK -- Phil Bronstein may be actress Sharon Stone’s husband,

but he was almost a San Francisco treat for a Komodo dragon at the Los

Angeles Zoo.

Bronstein, the executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, was at

the zoo Saturday for a private tour that included an up-close visit with

the flesh-eating Indonesian reptile. The visit got a bit too close,

however, when the scaly, 55-pound, 7-foot-long beast tried to take a bite

out of Bronstein by latching onto his foot, crushing his big toe and

severing tendons, officials said.

Bronstein remained in a local hospital Monday afternoon, despite an

expectation that he would be released soon.

“We’ll never know the reason why it bit him,” said zoo spokeswoman

Lora LaMarca, adding the 4-year-old endangered lizard is the more tame of

the zoo’s two males.

LaMarca also disputed published reports that the dragon had been

quarantined.

“It’s by itself in the exhibit all the time,” LaMarca said Monday

afternoon.

Komodo dragons are the world’s largest lizard, sometimes reaching

between 200 and 300 pounds, LaMarca said. The dragon that attacked

Bronstein weighs 55 pounds and is about 7 feet long, she said.

The lizards also have several septic bacteria in their mouths that can

lead to death if untreated, LaMarca said. In the wild, animals that

receive a bite and escape will die within a week from the toxic bacteria.

The zoo’s two dragons will moved to a new exhibit in October, thanks

to a donation, LaMarca said.

“They needed a new home because they grow so fast,” LaMarca said,

adding that when the zoo got the dragons three years ago, they were each

about a foot long.