Indonesian villagers armed with knives, hammers and clubs have slaughtered nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge for the death of a man killed by a reptile at a breeding farm.

Photographs showed bloodied carcasses of the crocodiles in a large pile in the Sorong district of the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua.

Local resident Sugito, who worked at a tofu factory in Sorong, West Papua, was said to be looking for grass to feed his cattle on Saturday when he was bitten by a crocodile.

His screams alerted a local resident who ‘heard him shouting for help but [he] was found dead,’ another local named Olga told The Jakarta Post.

Local residents look at the carcasses of hundreds of crocodiles from a breeding farm after they were killed by angry locals

After local villagers attended his funeral on Saturday, around 600 armed themselves with sharp implements and descended upon a crocodile farm, owned by Albert Siahaan, to avenge his death.

The bloody attack resulted in 292 baby and larger crocodiles, up to two metres in length, hauled from their water-filled enclosures and hacked to death with hoes, picks and other sharp tools.

Up to 40 police officers tried to stop the slaughter, but were outnumbered by the angry mob.

Angry villagers break into the crocodile farm and drag captive reptiles from enclosures

Some of the crocodiles hauled out from the farm were up to two metres in length

Crocodile after crocodile had its mouth tied shut with rope, as villagers sought revenge

They were attacked with sharp implements including hoes, machetes and knives

‘We couldn’t do anything. The situation was so tense,’ said Sorong police chief, Dewa Made Sutrahna, according to ABC News.

It was unclear whether the crocodile which bit Sugito was among those slaughtered.

'The residents used knives to slaughter the crocodiles,' Olga said, adding, 'The crocodiles were caught and dragged outside and stabbed to death. It was so horrid to see.'

While no arrests were made, the farm’s owner and four other people were questioned by police, with officers suggesting that a security guard might have a negligence charge brought against him.

Basar Manullang, head of West Papua Natural Resources Conservation Agency, criticised the cruel revenge, saying: ‘The crocodile slaughter violated the law on destroying others’ property.’

Police officers tried to intervene, to stop the crocodiles from being slaughtered, but with up to just 40 attending the scene they were too few in number, against the 600-strong crowd

The reptiles were held down and killed by villagers in Sorong, West Papua

Cruel: a baby crocodile is shown above, being killed during the mass cull

He said the crocodile farm was lawfully run, as it had an official permit issued by the Environment and Forestry Ministry.

‘The permit is legal and the process [to obtain it] in Jakarta took a long [time]. There were steps and requirements to meet and it was under the authority of the local government.

‘The crocodile slaughter is obviously against the law.’

This photo shows a man using a machete to kill a crocodile, which is among other dead crocodiles slaughtered by a mob in Sorong in Indonesia's Papua province

Basar Manullang, of West Papua Natural Resources Conservation Agency, criticised the cruel revenge, saying: ‘The crocodile slaughter violated the law on destroying others’ property'

Two men stand among the corpses of about 300 crocodiles, which were slaughtered after a crocodile bit a local resident, killing him

The reptiles' bodies piling up outside of the farm owned by a resident of Sorong, Albert Siahaan