Scientist killed by gigantic ‘pet’ crocodile which ripped her arm and ate her abdomen

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Deasy Tuwo was killed by the huge 17 foot crocodile as she fed it in its enclosure on a pearl farm in Indonesia

A female scientist suffered a gruesome death when she was mauled by a gigantic ‘pet’ crocodile as she fed the huge beast.

The animal had reportedly been kept illegally at the pearl farm where she was head of the laboratory on the Indonesian island of Sulawes in January 2019.

The massive 107stone crocodile had been named, Merry, is believed to have killed Deasy Tuwo when she fell into its enclosure. The 44-year-old’s body wasn’t discovered until the following morning when she was found by colleagues arriving at work.

Deasy, who was said to “love animals” was thought to have been feeding the huge 17 feet crocodile clumps of meat when she lost her footing and fell into the enclosure where it was kept.

Merry seems to have jumped up and dragged Deasy into the water below. The first colleagues knew of the horrifying tragedy was when they arrived at work and saw a “strange shape” in the water.

Horrifyingly, they realised it was Merry with her jaws clamped around what remained of Deasy’s body. In a truly gruesome twist, as they, along with rescue workers, frantically tried to retrieve the body of their colleague, the crocodile thrashed wildly and refused to give up its prize.

Deasy’s friend Erling Rumengan said: “We were curious when we looked at the crocodile pool, there was a floating object, it was Deasy’s body.

“We were afraid to touch it and we immediately report the incident at the Tombariri police station. It’s possible the crocodile jumped from the side. Maybe it’s because the crocodile was still full, it didn’t finish eating her body.”

Former colleague, Merry Supit, added: “She was the head of the lab. A quiet person. We’re confused about how this has happened. The crocodile eats chicken, tuna and meat. Everything must be fresh, he doesn’t want to eat if it’s frozen or has died a few days.”

Staff finally managed to captured the crocodile, which was then taken for medical tests.

Merry is said to have eaten most of Deasy’s hands, arms and her abdomen and after her death it was feared more of her body parts were still inside the crocodile.

At the time, Hendriks Rundengan, an official from a local conservation agency, said: “The indication is that she fell into the crocodile’s enclosure. These parts may still be inside the crocodile now.”

Staff also claimed Merry had caused problems previously by attacking and killing another crocodile, which was also living in the enclosure.

It is not known if Merry’s owner was located or what happened to the giant crocodile.

Indonesia is home to several species of crocodile and these have been known to attack humans previously. A Russian tourist was killed by a a crocodile on the Raja Ampat islands, a popular diving site, back in 2016.

Crocodiles kill many more humans every year than sharks, with the figure standing at about 1,000. They are opportunistic killers even if they don’t mean to hunt humans.