Angry mob kill nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge attack in Indonesia

Indonesian villagers have slaughtered nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge for the death of a man killed by a crocodile at a breeding farm in Sorong district of West Papua province of the country, an official said.

The villagers armed with knives, hammers and clubs slaughtered 292 crocodiles in the in revenge attack, the head of Indonesia’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency said.  

Photographs released by Antara news agency showed bloodied carcasses of the crocodiles in a large pile in the district, reports Reuters.

The official said that the 48-year-old victim had entered the crocodile farm and was likely picking grass for animal feed when he was attacked.

“An employee heard someone screaming for help, he quickly went there and saw a crocodile attacking someone,” the official Basar Manullang said in a statement.

After the burial of the man on Saturday, villagers entered the farm and killed all the crocodiles, said Manullang.

He said the farm had been given a licence to breed protected saltwater and New Guinea crocodiles in 2013 for preservation and also to harvest some of the animals.

But one of the conditions was that the reptiles did not disturb the community, Manullang said.

“To prevent this from happening again, farming licence holders need to secure surrounding areas,” the top official said. He said his agency was coordinating with police in their investigation.

“Crocodiles are god’s creatures that need to be protected too,” Manullang said.