Trappers Capture Killer Crocodile In Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) _ Trappers used a cow’s head to bait a 100-year-old crocodile which apparently killed five people in four months, Kenyan newspapers reported today.

The crocodile was taken alive Friday at Rhiketa Kubwa village, on the Tana River near the coastal city of Mombasa, and wrapped in chains and canvas before being taken to Mamba Village, a commercial crocodile ranch in Mombasa.

A woman who lost three daughters to the reptile collapsed when she saw the 1,100-pound crocodile, according to the English-language Daily Nation.

Other villagers, who said the three girls were among five people killed by the crocodile since September, had to be restrained from killing the 15-foot- long beast. Trappers said it was about 100 years old.

″It took us the whole night to overpower the crocodile and pull it to the roadside using ropes,″ said 32-year-old trapper Justine Mwambui, who caught the crocodile with Benji Dadho and Omara Malua.

″We suspect it has another human body inside,″ Mwambui told the Daily Nation without further explanation.

The trappers work for Mamba Village, where officials said the killer crocodile, nicknamed the ″Tana Terror,″ would be kept alive as a tourist attraction.

The village breeds crocodiles for their skins, which earn Kenya more than $187,500 in foreign exchange annually.