A crocodile has been shot dead at a Swiss zoo after it trapped a zookeeper's hand between its teeth.

The incident occurred at Zurich Zoo on Monday when the female keeper was trying to clean the animal's enclosure.

Philippine crocodiles are a rare species. (Zoo Zurich)

While removing the male Philippine crocodile from the area, it bit her hand and did not let it go for several minutes.

The zoo therefore decided to kill the animal, which was 1.5 metres long and weighed around 15 kilograms, director Alex Ruebel told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA.

The woman was still in hospital on Wednesday.