Near 300 Crocodiles Killed By Vengeful Villagers In Indonesia

Photographs showing bloodied crocodile carcasses in a pile were released by Antara news agency. Sorong district in the West Papua province of Indonesia was the setting of the animal slaughter, in which 292 crocodiles in a breeding farm and sanctuary were killed.

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A 48-year-old man had entered the crocodile farm, reportedly to pick grass to feed animals when he was attacked. “An employee heard someone screaming for help, he quickly went there and saw a crocodile attacking someone,” Basar Manullang, head of Indonesia’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency in West Papua, stated.

Following the man's death and subsequent burial, an angry mob of villagers armed with knives, clubs and hammers entered the breeding farm and killed all of the reptiles. The farm had a permit since 2013 to breed protected saltwater and New Guinea crocodiles for preservation and also harvesting purposes, Manullang explained. 

One of the conditions for the license was that the animals would not disturb the village.

“To prevent this from happening again, farming license holders need to secure surrounding areas,” Manullang said. The local police are coordinating investigations with the Natural Resources Conservation Agency to get to the bottom of this incident.