Carcasses of almost 300 crocodiles burned after revenge killing in Indonesia
Authorities say the reptiles were buried around the breeding farm where they were attacked by an angry mob at the weekend.
Tuesday 17 July 2018 11:15, UK
Indonesian authorities have burned the carcasses of almost 300 crocodiles slaughtered by villagers in retaliation for the death of a man attacked by one of the reptiles.
The 292 crocodiles were attacked by a mob on a breeding farm on Saturday in the province of West Papua.
Following the victim's burial, people wielding clubs, knives and machetes hunted down the protected animals and bludgeoned them to death.
"The dead crocodiles have been burned and buried around the farming area," said Basar Manullang, a conservation official.
Images from the scene show the pile of dead crocodiles in a large pit in the ground, covered with wood for kindling and set alight.
The 48-year-old man was killed after he entered an enclosure at a breeding farm in Papua province while looking for grass to feed his livestock, police and conservation officials said.
"One of the crocodile farm employees... heard someone screaming for help and ran to the scene where they saw a person being mauled by a crocodile," said Mr Manullang.
Witnesses will be questioned to determine if the breeding farm had been negligent and if any laws were broken in the slaughtering of the animals, Sorong police said.
An animal welfare group is urging those responsible for the crocodile killings to be held accountable.
"The government needs to show its firmness in handling animal rights," said Ode Kalashnikov of International Animal Rescue in Indonesia.
He said that while keeping crocodiles on a farm was not ideal, it protected them from poachers in the wild.
Police and conservation officials said they were unable to stop the hundreds of angry villagers seeking revenge as they were quickly outnumbered.