Mob slaughters ‘hundreds’ of crocs in revenge attack

An angry mob has slaughtered nearly 300 crocodiles in Indonesia after a local man was killed by one of the reptiles, authorities said yesterday.

The revenge killings happened on Saturday in Papua province following the funeral of the man, who perished when he fell into an enclosure at a crocodile farm while looking for grass to feed his livestock, police and conservation officials said.

The victim, identified as 48-year-old Sugito, was bitten on the leg and then fatally struck with the tail of one of the crocodiles, which are a protected species, they said.

Sugito’s relatives and local residents, angry over the farm’s location near a residential area, marched to the local police station, authorities said.

Local conservation agency head Bassar Manulang said they were told that the farm had agreed to pay compensation.

“We made an agreement with the victim’s family and conveyed our condolences,” he added.

But the mob, which numbered in the “hundreds”, was not satisfied and headed to the crocodile farm armed with knives, machetes and shovels which they used to slaughter some 292 crocs, from 10-cm-long babies to two-metre adults, authorities said.

Outnumbered police and conservation agency officials said they were unable to stop the grisly attack. Authorities said they may lay criminal charges.

“For now we are still questioning the witnesses,” said Dewa Made Sidan Sutrahna, the police chief in Papua’s Sorong district.

Indonesia is home to a wide array of wildlife, including crocodiles that regularly attack and kill humans.

REUTERS Local residents look at the carcasses of crocodiles after they were slaughtered by an angry mob following the killing of a man by a crocodile in Sorong, Indonesia.