A Ugandan fisherman has tracked down and killed a massive crocodile, armed only with a spear, after it ate his pregnant wife. Locals have hailed the man as a hero, as the crocodile was thought to have eaten six other people.
Demeteriya Nabwire was eight months pregnant when she was attacked and devoured on the shores of Lake Kyoga, in eastern Uganda as she collected firewood, the Telegraph has reported. According to a local news source, locals found only her slippers, several toes and fingers and a mobile phone at the location of her attack.
Upon hearing of her death, her husband Mubalak Batambuze, 56, took up a spear and tracked down the animal before killing it. Locals believe the crocodile was responsible for six other deaths, including of women and children, as well as severe injuries inflicted upon five other people. They have hailed Batambuze as a hero.
The Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) said that they sent officials to the area, who found a crocodile measuring 25 ft (7.5 metres) and weighing more than 157 stone (1000kg). “We believe this was the same animal that killed the woman,” said UWA spokesman Peter Ogwang. He also said that human bones and clothes had been found in the animal’s stomach.
If the measurements are correct, they would made the crocodile a record breaker, as the largest Nile crocodiles found in Africa rarely exceed 20 ft (6 metres) in length.
According to the UWA, around 30 people are eaten by crocodiles in Africa each year. They say that attacks are on the increase thanks to overfishing by humans, which has reduced the crocodiles’ food sources.
However, Wycliffe Ibanda, chairman of the district in which the crocodile was killed, blamed the UWA for the deaths, saying that they had failed to respond to requests to relocate the animals. “Whenever we ask them to come over they ask for fuel,” he said.
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