Following the crocodile attacks that killed two including a crocodile shaman in Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, over the weekend, Indonesia saw yet another man killed by a suspected crocodile attack in Rokan Hilir, Riau.
Though nobody witnessed the suspected crocodile attack, the body of the victim, identified as belonging to 46-year-old Suprianto, was found near a village in the area after already being torn to pieces yesterday. Locals brought Suprianto’s corpse to a local clinic for examination.
“We can see that there were bite marks on the victim’s body. When we received the victim’s body, it was crushed and not intact,” said Josafat Silalahi, head of the Bagan Sinembah clinic, as quoted by Detik today.
Despite the presence of bite marks, Josafat has not yet officially confirmed that they were those of a crocodile, and further examination is necessary to determine Suprianto’s cause of death.
According to Dedi, a local man who saw Suprianto’s corpse, the victim was last seen with a friend guarding a plantation near a peat swamp in the area.
“The victim’s friend at the time left the victim alone in a hut in the middle of the plantation. The friend went to pick up a colleague who had just come from North Sumatra to work with them,” Dedi told Detik.
However, when they returned, Suprianto was nowhere to be seen. His body was found days later near where he was last seen.
Hellen Kurniati, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), believes that the recent spate of crocodile attacks is because it is currently the animal’s mating season in Indonesia, meaning they can be extra aggressive in protecting their territory. She said during this time it’s more likely that crocodiles will attack humans encroaching on their territory but not consume them for food since their appetites are low during mating season.
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