Ugandan fisherman hunts down and kills crocodile that ate his pregnant wife

Mubalak Batambuze stabbed the animal with a spear and locals hail him as a hero for slaying the beast they blame for six other deaths

A Ugandan fisherman tracked down and killed a giant crocodile after it ate his pregnant wife as she collected firewood at the edge of a lake.

Demeteriya Nabwire, who is reported by local media to have been eight months pregnant, was devoured early on Sunday morning on the shores of Lake Kyoga in eastern Uganda.

Locals found the slippers she was wearing, along with several toes and fingers and a mobile phone at the spot where she was attacked, Uganda’s New Vision reported.

Her husband, Mubalak Batambuze, 56, armed himself with a spear and tracked the crocodile down before killing it.

He was hailed as a hero by locals who believe that the same crocodile was responsible for the deaths of six other people, including women and children, and severe injuries inflicted on five more people.

Uganda Wildlife Authority said they sent officials to the area who found a crocodile measuring 7.5 metres and weighing more than 157 stones (1,000kg).

If true, the crocodile would break several records since the largest specimens of Nile crocodiles found in Africa rarely measure more than six metres.

Peter Ogwang, a spokesman for Uganda’s Wildlife Authority (UWA), said human bones and clothes were found in the animal’s stomach.

“We believe this was the same animal that killed the woman,” UWA official told the German press agency, DPA.

About 30 Ugandans are killed by crocodiles each year, according to the UWA, and attacks are on the increase because overfishing by humans is reducing the reptiles’ food sources.

Wycliffe Ibanda, the chairman of the district in which the crocodile was found, blamed the UWA for the crocodile deaths, saying it failed to respond to calls to relocate the reptiles. “Whenever we ask them to come over they ask for fuel,” he told the New Vision.

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