INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image:The 4.4m-long reptile was thought to have been kept illegally at a pearl farmA woman has been mauled to death by a pet crocodile in
its enclosure on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.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
The reptile has been relocated to a conservation site while authorities look for its owner
Image copyrightShutterstockImage caption
Deasy Tuwo was attacked while feeding the crocodile at pearl farm
Ms Tuwo was head of the laboratory at the pearl farm and was feeding Merry on 10 January when she was killed.Some reports say that the
crocodile dragged her into the enclosure but local conservation agency officials believe she fell in.Her colleagues discovered her body the
Image copyrightAFPImage caption
The crocodile was sedated to be removed from its enclosure and taken to a conservation
centre
Hendriks Rundengan from the North Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) told TheIndianSubcontinent
Indonesian 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.According to AFP, authorities believe
Ms Tuwo's body parts may still be inside the 4.4m-long crocodile
Police are now trying to track down a Japanese national who owns both the farm and the crocodile.Image:The man who keeps dozens of
crocodiles in his back gardenThe Indonesian archipelago is home to several species of crocodile that regularly attack and kill humans, AFP
reports.In April 2016, a Russian tourist was killed by a crocodile on the Raja Ampat islands, a popular diving site in the east of the
archipelago, it says.Worldwide, crocodiles are estimated to kill about 1,000 humans per year, many more than sharks
Crocodiles do not necessarily set out to hunt humans, but they are opportunistic killers
In Africa alone, there are several hundred crocodile attacks on humans per year, between a third to half of which are fatal, depending on
