(RNN) – Almost 300 crocodiles were killed in Indonesia this weekend by a mob reportedly numbering in the hundreds, inflamed by the death of a villager at a sanctuary and breeding farm.
Sugito, a local factory worker, was killed on Friday after wandering into the sanctuary while reportedly gathering grass to feed his cattle.
Following his funeral, villagers orchestrated a staggering revenge slaughter.
“The residents used knives to slaughter the crocodiles,” Olga, a local in Sorong, West Papua, where the crocodiles were killed, told The Jakarta Post. “The crocodiles were caught and dragged outside and stabbed to death. It was so horrid to see.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or ABC, reported the crowd numbered 600 and used machetes, hoes and other tools in the slaughter.
The Sorong police chief, Dewa Made Sutrahna, told ABC, “We couldn’t do anything.”
“We were outnumbered,” he said. “The situation was so tense.”
The BBC reported the mob first went to the sanctuary’s offices, then attacked the animals there. The farm bred New Guinea crocodiles, a threatened species, though one categorized as low risk.
Villagers reportedly had standing issues with the sanctuary, and objected to its location in a residential area as well as what they said were insufficient barriers to secure the crocodiles on the farm’s grounds.
The head of the provincial natural resources agency condemned the killings.
“The crocodile slaughter violated the law on destroying others’ property,” he told The Jakarta Post.
WARNING: Graphic images below
VIDEO: Indonesian villagers kill nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge attack
?? Indonesia Mob Kills Hundreds of Crocodiles after Man Dieshttps://t.co/SphxDOAqjr pic.twitter.com/1s0CAhd4ew
— The Voice of America (@VOANews) July 16, 2018
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