A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a ‌three-year-old boy ended up in a crocodile enclosure at a ‌zoo in central England resulting in him ‌sustaining critical injuries, police say.

Cambridgeshire Police said officers were called following reports of an incident at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a zoo near Huntingdon which resulted in ‌the boy ‌being in ⁠the enclosure.

The child has been taken ​to hospital with serious injuries and is in a critical but stable condition, police said.

A 30-year-old man had been arrested.

“At this stage we are speaking to people ⁠who were at ‌the ​zoo at the time of this distressing incident to understand ​more about the ‌circumstances,” said Detective Inspector Verity McCann.

“We do not believe ​the man arrested and the child are known to each other.”

Johnsons of Old Hurst could not ​immediately ​be reached for comment.

​On its website it said ‌the family-owned farm’s interest in conservation had led to a fascination with crocodiles.

“We are hoping to continue to develop our crocodile farm here at Johnsons of ​Old Hurst to be a part of this ​remarkable conservational effort,” ⁠the website said.