Nearly 300 crocodiles were killed using hammers and clubs in Indonesia’s West Papua province as a revenge to a man’s death.
A mob butchered the reptiles of a breeding farm following the burrying of the death man who had accidentally entered an enclosure in a village in Sorong district on Saturday.
According to local police and conservation officials the 48-year-old man was picking grass for animal feed when he entered the enclosure of crocodiles.
Head of Indonesia’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency in West Papua, Basar Manullang, said one of the employees of the farm heard someone screaming from inside the enclosure for help and reaching to the spot he saw a man being mauled by a crocodile.
Following the burial on Saturday locals went to the breeding farm and slaughtered 292 crocodiles with machetes, shovels and knives. They killed the reptiles ranging from babies to grown-up crocodiles.
The police were not able to prevent the attack on crocodiles as angry villagers outnumbered them. It is being said criminal charges could be filed against the mob.
District police chief Dewa Made Sidan Sutrahna said as of now they are questioning the witnesses.
According to Manullang, the farm was granted a license in 2013 to breed protected saltwater and New Guinea crocodiles under the agreement that preservation should be in condition under which community is not disturbed.
He added, “To prevent this from happening again, farming license holders need to secure surrounding areas.”
