A Woman Was Mauled to Death by a Pet Crocodile in Indonesia

An Indonesian woman was mauled to death by a pet crocodile after she fell into the giant reptile’s pen, Agence France-Presse reports.

Deasy Tuwo, who ran a laboratory at a pearl farm, was reportedly feeding the 1,500-pound crocodile named Merry when she fell into its enclosure on the island of Sulawesi. Her body was found by her colleagues the next morning, officials said on Wednesday.

“The indication is that she fell into the crocodile’s enclosure,” Hendriks Rundengan, an official from a local conservation agency, told AFP.

Merry reportedly ate one of the 44-year-old woman’s hands and much of her abdomen.

“These parts may still be inside the crocodile now,” Rundengan added.

Merry, who had been kept illegally on the pearl farm, was sedated and taken out of the enclosure on Jan. 14 in a three-hour ordeal that required assistance from police, the army and conservationists.

Rundengan said Merry will be transferred to a conservation area.

It’s unclear how Merry came to be a pet crocodile. Rundengan told BBC that officials had previously tried and failed to enter the farm to retrieve the reptile.

“We’ve come here a few times but the fences are always locked,” he said.

Police are still investigating the incident and trying to get ahold of the alleged owner of the crocodile.