Talk about being saved at the eel-eventh hour.
A man in Auckland, New Zealand had a rather embarrassing emergency last week when he had to ask doctors to remove an eel from his bottom.
An Auckland City Hospital spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Huffington Post. But Matt Rogers, spokesman for Auckland District Health Board, confirmed that a man was treated for the condition at ACH.
“In response to a direct query from the Herald on Sunday, we can confirm that an adult male presented at Auckland City Hospital this week with an eel inside him,” Rogers said. “No further comment will be made out of respect for the patient’s right to privacy.”
It’s unclear how the eel got inside the man, but the patient was treated successfully and released.
Perhaps he should consider himself lucky.
Last year, Zhang Nan had to have Chinese doctors remove an eel from inside his bladder. The creature had slithered there through his penis during a strange spa treatment that the Los Angeles Times describes as “similar to those unusual pedicures that have fish eat dead skin off people’s feet — except that you’re fully submerged, and you’re probably naked, and there are eels all over you.”
At least both Nan and the New Zealand man were fortunate to escape their predicaments with their lives. In 2010, it was reported that another Chinese man died from internal bleeding after an eel was inserted into his rectum, apparently as a practical joke.
Hat tip: Fark
Flickr photo by: farm6.staticflickr.com
