Sharon Stone Blames Zoo for Hubby's Lizard Attack

June 21, 2001 -- Maybe it's because the shock's finally worn off, or maybe the lawyers have gotten involved, but Sharon Stone is singing a different tune nearly two weeks after a Komodo dragon attacked her husband, San Francisco Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein, at the Los Angeles Zoo.

"The zookeeper who was there with us was paralyzed and unable to do anything to help in any way," the Mensa member told AP Radio. "I made a tourniquet out of his socks. I turned them inside out. He had such a severe injury and we were alone and I was screaming for help and no one was there to hear us."

Immediately following the June 9 attack, Stone had said, "We certainly don't blame the people at the zoo." A zoo rep was unavailable for comment.

Stone had arranged the trip as a Father's Day present to her husband, who apparently has a long-standing interest in Komodo dragons, the largest lizards on the planet, and wanted to see one up close. Stone reportedly tagged along but waited outside the zoo's Komodo enclosure while her husband accompanied a zookeeper on a behind-the-scenes tour.

At the zookeeper's request, Bronstein removed his white tennis shoes as a precaution against his feet being mistaken for an appetizer by the dragons, which are fed white rats. The 5-foot-long animal attacked Bronstein's shoeless foot anyway, crushing his big toe, which required surgery to reattach severed tendons. Bronstein reportedly pried apart the ravening reptile's jaws and beat it out of the cage.

"There's been a lot of PR like it's a funny thing, or like it was a little accident, when in fact it was an irresponsible offer and it was a very, very serious injury, and it's going to take him probably a total of four months to rehabilitate and to walk again." Stone said.