‘Immortal’ monster crocodile ‘Osama’ killed 80 before reign of terror stopped | World | News
The deadly lake where Osama the croc ate 80 people and if beasts don’t kill you, parasitic worms willCREDIT: Alamy Stock Photocopyright unknown (Image: Alamy Stock Photo)
Living in a village alongside a stunning lake sounds idyllic — unless your neighbour happens to be a giant man-eating crocodile.
Lake Victoria in Uganda is the largest lake in Africa and the second largest globally, but it is perhaps best known for Osama, a 75-year-old Nile crocodile blamed for killing and eating 80 people.
The 16ft-long creature struck fear into locals in Luganga, a village in Uganda, for years. Between 1991 and 2005, during a particularly savage period, he claimed the lives of a tenth of the village’s population.
Stories circulated about how the deadly croc would seize children as they collected buckets of water at the lake’s edge, or glide beneath fishing boats and deliberately overturn them.
Cunning, merciless, relentless — villagers were certain Osama, named after the infamous terrorist responsible for the 9/11 atrocity, was invincible or, as some murmured, Satan himself, reports the Daily Star.
Residents of the Kakira village (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
One man witnessed — and survived — an assault by the formidable reptile, though his brother was not as fortunate.
The Sydney Morning Herald spoke to Paul Kyewalyanga, who was rowing at the rear of his boat while his brother Peter fished from the front when Osama lunged in and grabbed him.
He recalled: “Osama just emerged from the water vertically and flopped into the boat.
“The back of the boat where I was sitting was submerged.”
The petrified fisherman cried out for assistance, but the crocodile had clamped onto Peter’s leg with its enormous jaws and started dragging at him, attempting to haul him into the water.
Paul added: “Peter was clutching the side screaming. They fought for about five minutes until I heard a tearing sound.
Osama was 16-feet long (Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
“Peter shouted, ‘He’s broken my leg.’ Then he let go and was dragged into the lake. A few days later we found his head and his arm.”
Villagers were more terrified than ever, with some even waking in the dead of night and feeling driven to pray for protection from the aquatic predator.
Their appeals for divine intervention were ultimately answered in 2005 when the giant croc was caught.
Following a surveillance operation that lasted seven days and nights, a team comprising 50 local men and wildlife officials enticed the creature into a trap using a pair of cow’s lungs as bait.
Osama, captured in Uganda (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
As Osama lunged upwards to seize the lungs, he unwittingly bit into a snare which coiled around his teeth.
The team then worked relentlessly to subdue the writhing beast with ropes and hauled him onto the back of a pick-up truck — but that wasn’t the end of Osama’s story.
Villagers keen to destroy the monstrous creature were informed that it wasn’t permitted.
Officials told them: “Even he has rights. He cannot be killed with impunity.”
Instead he was handed over to the proprietors of Uganda Crocs to be utilised in their breeding programme. They had hoped he would father hundreds or potentially thousands more giant crocodiles whose hides could be transformed into handbags for fashion enthusiasts in nations such as Italy and South Korea.
The farm also operates as a tourist destination, where visitors can drop by to observe the 5,000 crocodiles being reared before slaughter.
It remains unclear whether Osama is still living or has since perished, although considering his age at the time of his capture and the typical lifespan of a Nile crocodile ranging from 60 to 80 years, there is a reasonable possibility he has died.
Efforts to reach Uganda Crocs proved unsuccessful.
