Antara Foto Agency / Reuters
It may be wise never to cross an Indonesian. In what seems like a somewhat disproportionate response, a mob of villagers killed nearly 300 crocodiles as payback for a deadly attack on a local man. The attack happened at a crocodile sanctuary—seemingly not a very secure one—after the villager was killed Friday morning while gathering vegetables at a farm. “An employee heard someone screaming for help, quickly went there, and saw a crocodile attacking someone,” the head of Indonesia’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency in West Papua said. After the funeral Saturday, several hundred angry locals went to the sanctuary, armed with knives, shovels, hammers, and clubs. The mob first attacked the office of the crocodile farm and then went on to slaughter all 292 reptiles at the sanctuary, according to local media reports. Officials and police said they were not able to stop the attack and may now press charges.