Pet crocodile mauls Indonesian woman to death


FE Team | Published: January 17, 2019 16:04:01


Photo collected from internet has been used for representational purpose only

An Indonesian woman has been mauled to death by a pet crocodile in Sulawesi after she fell into its enclosure.

Deasy Tuwo, 44, had reportedly been feeding the crocodile at the pearl farm where she worked, and where the animal was being kept illegally.

The 700kg crocodile, named Merry, is thought to have bitten off her arm and most of her abdomen.

The reptile has been relocated to a conservation site while authorities look for its owner.

Tuwo was head of the laboratory at the pearl farm and was feeding Merry on 10 January when she fell into the crocodile's enclosure, says a BBC report.

Her colleagues discovered her body the next morning.

Hendriks Rundengan from the North Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) said that officials had tried to visit the facility several times in the past to remove the crocodile but had not been allowed in.

"We've come here a few times but the fences are always locked," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Police are now trying to track down a Japanese national who owns both the farm and the crocodile.

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