The crocodile has been said to have attacked several people in the area prompting residents of Bangka Belitung Islands to strike back and take down the 50-year-old beast.
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The villagers captured the animal in the Kayubesi River on Monday evening with a net that had been decked out with sharp blades.
After two days in captivity, the 500kg crocodile died of exhaustion and was carried by a bulldozer to its burial site as it was just too big. But, superstitious villagers decided that the crocodile's head needed to be buried separately from its body to avoid it coming back to haunt them.
Villagers also refused to hand the giant crocodile over to conservationists out of belief that it was really a demon and they would be doomed if they moved it from the village.
Resources Conservation Agency claimed their officials tried to negotiate with the locals but they were completely against relocating the dead animal. Head of local conservation agency Bangka Belitung Natural, Septian Garo stated:
There was a belief that the crocodile should not be removed from the village because it is a demon. They [referred to] local beliefs that hampered the [animal's] relocation.
Garo then explained that taking the creature elsewhere would doom the neighbourhood, recalling an incident from 2016 where locals had again refused another crocodile to be released into the agency's care.
However, authorities from the organisation were permitted to inspect the 'demon crocodile' before it was buried and found that the 50-year-old creature had no teeth.
The villagers that had captured the 500kg monster could not carry it to its final resting site, so a bulldozer had to be enlisted to carry it.
Locals then banded together and sawed off the crocodile's head and performed a ritual so it would not 'come back to life and haunt them.' Junaidi, a village official stated:
The body and head must be buried separately because this is a demon crocodile. Before cutting it off, there is also a special ritual.
